Shooting Star
by Falkyn's Flight
Summary: After Sam left the autobots for good Primus realized that he had made a mistake. He had put to much on a boy who wanted nothing more than being normal. Desperate to save his children Primus rewinds time and chooses three girls as replacements for Sam. These three have better have what it takes, if they don't the worst may just come to pass after all.
1. Prologue

Prologue

The entity stared at the world. His people, his beloved children, were all going to be annihilated. He knew it, there was only a matter of time before they became extinct. Some deities wouldn't care if just one world of their children would lose the entire race, but he did. With a deep sigh he glanced at one of the alternate dimensions that danced around the ones where his creations lived.

Was there a way to save them?

There were millions of ways to try, but the rules were clear. Deities, such as him, had strict rules to follow. Occasionally it was possible that a few humans would 'slip through the cracks' but he was also well aware that he was being watched carefully by the others. They disliked how much he cared for his worlds, how he personally invested himself in each and every one of his creations. He didn't understand the reason for their anger. Why was it wrong to care about those who he created? So what if there were millions of alternate versions of his children? Why did that mean that their lives mattered any less? Perhaps he was too soft but he would cease before he stopped caring.

There had to be a way to save them.

He stared at the humans interacting with the last of his children on the doomed world and not for the first time wondered: What would happen if it was someone else who had interacted with them? He held no anger against the boy named Sam, but he had been too unwilling. He didn't want to be a hero. There was no problem with that normally but he couldn't deny that part of the reason his children were suffering was they put their trust in that boy... a boy who was unable to hold the burden. He had too many responsibilities for one human child to manage. It had resulted in him leaving, unable to handle the responsibility that rested on his shoulders. He had believed that they would be better without him. Sam hadn't realized that the lives and the futures of his people, relied upon what was now running through his very body.

He had put too much on one boy.

A thought occurred to Primus and he bolted upright. Glancing to his left there was one particular world, rather small and insignificant. It had nothing other than human life. Humans and their imaginations, but they had stories... stories of his children.

Perhaps there was a way to save his world.

The entity stepped forward, one hand encompassing the dimension of his children, the other the dimension with his children's tale.

Now for the changing.

He would rewind time on the world where his creations lived to a point where they had yet to meet Sam. He would give Sam what he wanted. The boy would live a perfectly regular life; nothing fascinating, nothing 'supernatural' an ordinary boy, an ordinary life. Now to find those who would replace the boy. He wasn't going to hang the life of his children on one person, he had learned his lesson. This world needed more. He would need more then one, two would be better, perhaps three but no more than that. Three children, not adults, adults were closed minded, they were stuck in the rut of their lives. He needed children who would be flexible, who would be willing to swing their lives in a different direction. He needed children who would be willing to endanger themselves. He paused, perhaps it would be best for each chosen to represent one main responsibility that Sam had been given. They would be the guardian, the spark (or heart as the humans called it), and the soldier. He needed these three, each a distinct personality and he would need them to be close to each other. It wouldn't make any sense for them to be far apart. If he did that they might not ever meet. He wasn't allowed to interfere directly but he could do this and hope that it worked. But first, he had to find the three who would hold the future of his people. Three teenagers who he hoped would be able to handle the responsibilities. If the three that he decided upon failed, then so would his last hope.

He cast his eyes down upon them and finally he found a few. There were several sets that matched what he was looking for, any of them would work, but still he watched. He wanted to make sure that he would not choose the wrong ones again. Upon merging the dimensions he would have a single instant to make a change. The rest would be up to his children and chosen ones. He watched them for years of time, slowly narrowing his chosen set down. Time passed and he was finally down to two sets. One was a trio of girls a set of sisters and a close friend. The second set consisted of a boy and two girls. However, the first group had something the second did not.

It had a fan of his creations.

Just one 'hard core fan' as the people of that world would say. The other two were aware of them, but unlike her they did not particularly care about them. It wasn't a problem, but perhaps while he was making that single change he could let just the smallest 'mistake' slip. If any other deity accused him of it he could easily say that it was accidental. There would be no proof one way or another.

He had a lot of work to do. He turned to his dimension, swinging a hand over, rewinding time to back before the autobots came to earth, before Megatron was found my Arthur Witwicky. All it would take was a single nudge and Witwicky would never find Megatron. Instead, two years later another man, also named Arthur, would find him. Arthur Caron, this world's version of the great-great-grandfather of the sisters. He began to work on the 'mistake' next. Normally when dimensions merged, any knowledge about the other world was lost on both of the dimensions. There was occasionally exceptions where the 'fiction' was used to disguise the reality of the situation. Those worlds were interesting to watch, but that wasn't going to happen here. No, instead there would be a vague sense of familiarity, perhaps deja vu. It would be enough, he hoped, to guide the girls in the right direction.

He hoped it would be enough to save his children.

Those three girls held the hope for this world's entire race of his children. As soon as he was finished he left the area. He couldn't be nearby for several hours. If he was lucky the other deities would believe it was one of the rare natural mergings. Normally a merging was with dimensions more similar then the two that had just merged, but perhaps he could trick them and escape the politics entirely. A second before he vanished out of sight of that single world he stopped and looked back.

"Take care my children." He told it softly, his amber optics shining like headlights in his mechanical body. Smiling slightly, Primus walked away.

A shadow from behind one of the pillars in the room stepped out, forming into another robotic being. His purple optics shone intensely as he stared at the newly merged planet. A smile quirked over his dermas.

"And they call me a chaos god." He muttered, approaching the revolving dimensions. He touched one, watching as black blossomed across it like a flower. It was strange that Primus, a god of order would break a law. The golden deity approached the newly merged world, staring deep into it.

"Where... Ah... I see what you did brother." He chuckled, carefully examining the world. He burst into a peal of laughter that shook the tiny dimensions about him.

"I won't touch this dimension." He promised no one, optics glistening.

"Its far too fascinating."


	2. The Real World

Chapter 1

The Real World

 _Lynn_

My head bobbed in time to the computerized tune as I browsed through the internet. Not for the first time I wondered what it would be like to live through what all those fictional characters had. "Going to college is an adventure" my parents had told me. Yeah, a regular everyday adventure that no one really wants I add mentally. Shaking my head I tried to focus on the fanfiction. It was a really good one and that fact alone thrilled me.

Transformers was one of my top fandoms, I loved others and I didn't only obsess about Transformers but they were definitely up there on my list.

I closed the fanfiction after a moment or two as there were other things I wanted to do today, one of which was to watch a movie online. There was one movie in particular I wanted to watch. Going online I began to looked up _Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon_. I wanted to try to finish the movie as I had shut it off after Ironhide was killed. It was bad enough that they killed Jazz but Ironhide was the last straw. Now though, after I had seen the fourth (much to my horror) I had to watch the third all the way through if only to say I had seen the entire series. Personally I didn't know how the series was going to continue when the last one was so awful, that and they practically killed off all my favourite characters too.

I had been thoroughly involved in several Transformers franchises, the original, Transformers Prime, the movies of course, as well as several others. I also had a solid understanding of the fanbase and several fan theories. I read enough of the fanfiction that even if a character wasn't a major one in any of the series many times I felt like I knew them and had a better connection to them.

"Lynn! Can I borrow your charger?" I sighed and opened my bedroom door. Sticking her head around the edge of my door was my little sister who was grinning at me innocently.

"You lost yours in that mess you call a room again didn't you?" I asked deadpan. The growth of Elaine's 'innocent smile' just confirmed the fact. I sighed and gestured at the cord, allowing her to walk into my room to take it. Instead she plugged it into my computer, plugged her iPod into it and walked away. I opened my mouth to comment but then shut it. Giving the argument up for a lost cause I turned back to my computer. As I turned back I noticed the search engine had the letter T in it, but that was all. I frowned, what had I been looking up again? Shaking my head I moved to my bookshelf and dove into Harry Potter.

A few hours later I closed the book and glanced at the clock. I stood, grinning, and threw my purse over my shoulder and went to knock on my sister's bedroom door.

"Yes?" She asked, sticking her head out.

"It's time to go." Elaine's dark eyes lit up with excitement, she scrambled out of her room and started tearing through the house to get everything we needed. I chuckled as I watched my sister fly about.

As I watched her I noticed once again how beautiful Elaine was. When it came to the look department my sister had clearly won the lottery. Eliane had pale skin with dark eyes and hair. She stood exactly five foot which was why she almost always wore heels: She had a large bust, large hips, and an average waistline which held the illusion of being smaller than it really was due to her other attributes. The only things that 'marred' her face was acne, but she had been using a few creams and lotions to reduce them so by now they were almost all gone.

I double checked my bag to make sure I had gotten it all and headed out to the car to wait.

Today was a special day for me, I had been planning it for weeks now, ever since I got my N. Me, my sister and my best friend were going to a drive-in movie theatre, one of the last ones, if I remembered correctly. It was a double feature, like most drive-ins had, which meant we would be returning home early in the morning. Then for the next two days my best friend, Thalia, would be staying over at my house. It was a pretty good concept and all three of us were excited.

I stopped as I got to the parking lot. The car was sitting there, completely innocent. Something seemed... strange. I blinked and recognized the feeling: Deja vu. I shook my head. I always seemed to experience deja vu more than most people. When we were younger my sister actually believed that I could see into the future and that was why, but as time passed we both grew up. As much as we wished for an adventure, for something to come in and end this boring existence, the facts were things like that didn't just happen. There were no aliens, no superheroes, no magical or mystical abilities, that could give our lives a greater meaning.

Life didn't give easy answers.

I shook myself from my thoughts and gently patted the car's top. The car in question was my yellow 1969 Camaro with black stripes. Our uncle had bought it for my sister and I to learn how to drive, as well as an extra car in case of an emergency. As I slid into the driver's seat my eyes caught the steering wheel. A strange design was built around the horn, something like a mix of a mask and a face. The strange feeling of deja vu hit me again and left me staring at it for a few moments. I had seen that image before but I couldn't remember where.

"What are you doing?" I blinked and looked up. Elaine was sitting in the passenger's seat, buckled up with a strange expression on her face.

"Nothing." I quickly blurted and stuck the keys in the ignition.

Several minutes later I pulled to a stop in front of a white house. In front of it stood Thalia, a backpack over her shoulder and a purse in hand and she was grinning like an insane person. The three of us standing together all looked like we were related. Thalia had brunette hair, far paler than Elaine's, about the same shade as my own. Of the three of us her skin had the darkest complexion but with how pale Elaine was that really didn't say much. Thalia also had the lightest eyes although they were still brown, and much to my annoyance she, just like Elaine, had far more bust and curves than I. Thalia's facial features weren't as soft as my own, but neither were they as clearly defined as Elaine's, she laid somewhere in the middle.

Still grinning Thalia clambered into the backseat

"Hey." She grinned, tossing her backpack to the opposite side of the car.

"Hi," I replied glancing backwards to smile at her, "excited?"

"Yes." Thalia bounced in the backseat, "So what movies are we watching?"

" _Divergent_ and… what was the second feature?" Elaine asked, turning to me, nose wrinkled in thought.

"I don't remember exactly… _Into the Woods_ I think. Besides that's not important… also I brought bug spray, we're going to need it."

"Fun." Thalia's sarcastic tone clearly letting us know exactly what she thought. Beside me Elaine squirmed, uncomfortable with the thought of insects trying to eat her alive.

"Exactly." I replied equally sarcastic. I looked away and put the car into drive.

"So… is this a nice change?" I teased as I navigated us towards the edges of town.

"From having to drive you around?" Thalia grinned back. I sighed dramatically.

"I get it, you're a year younger then me and you got your licence a year before. Uncle, uncle!" We all chuckled at the gentle teasing. If there was one person who I would add to my family and never think twice it would be Thalia. She fit in so well among my family and the two of us knew that we would always have the other's back no matter what. She had taken to calling my parents 'mom and dad' just like Elaine and I. In face, last month I had told someone that my sisters and I were going to have a movie marathon. At that point there was no denying that Thalia was officially my sister. My heart ached for a moment when I thought about the three months we had left before I was leaving for college. I didn't want to be separated from the two people who mattered the most to me but education was important.

You won't be entirely separated I told myself crossly, there's still Skype, Facebook, texting. Lots of ways to stay in contact; just not a lot of time to do so.

I found myself once again staring at the image on the steering wheel. It bothered me me to no end the way my gut was screaming that I should know that design and yet I couldn't place it. I traced the design with one finger as I pulled out into the road. Why was this design so painfully familiar and why was I so determined that it was important if I couldn't remember?

* * *

As we headed back home I smiled at the lolling head of my sister in the rearview mirror. Thalia sat in the passenger's seat determined to stay awake to help me stay focused on the road, which was needed with how tired I was as well.

I smiled at my sisters, this was a good way to say goodbye. I jerked my head to shake the thoughts out of my head, no I wasn't saying goodbye. There was still months before September and school started. Months before I would go to university.

"Do you want me to take over?" Thalia asked, thinking that the jerk had been me about to nod off at the wheel. I shook my head.

"No, I'm okay." I replied. Thalia sent me a worried look.

"If you say so. Do you want me to turn on some music?"

The sound of police sirens gave both Thalia and I a jerk in our seats. Sitting more erect I checked in my rearview mirror. Slowly I pulled our car over to the side of the road, being particularly careful as I wasn't fond of the idea of falling into the forest. The police car stopped behind us causing me to sigh. Cops, always picking on the people with N's.

"I'll get back to you on that." Turning I began to rummage through my purse. As the police car pulled to a stop behind us I felt the Camaro shift. Frowning, I peered out of the window. We were still on solid ground so why… The Camaro lurched forward, engine revving as it tore away from the police car.

"Lynn! What the hell are you doing!" I couldn't reply, staring in horror as my car drove itself away from the scene. Elaine too jerked from the sudden increase in speed and cried out. Thalia sitting beside me cried out in horror, noticing that my hands were struggling against the wheel.

"Oh my God!" I jerked at Elaine's voice raising up in an unattractive octave. I spun to look, since the car was the one clearly in control here I had the freedom to do so. Behind us the police car had vanished, replaced by a pair of giant robot legs chasing us down. In response to my scream of terror our car dove off the highway.

My heart caught in my throat, choking me as we flew. We hit the ground with a reverberating bang that caused my teeth to clack together. Instinct screamed to get out of the car. I unbuckled in a frenzy and shouted at my sister and Thalia to do the same.

The car door opened and I threw myself out. We fell into a tangle of limbs but vaguely I noticed that there was three sets of legs. Everyone had made it out. Scrambling away I spun, another scream dying in my throat. If I had thought just the legs of a giant robot were scary then seeing the entire form was enough to make me lose control of certain bodily functions.

"Lynn," I heard Thalia cry. Her voice rising in panic, but I couldn't move because the police car robot wasn't the only one there. It was being held back by a smaller yellow and black one. The Camaro. My family's car that my uncle had bought was a robot. Another strange feeling of deja vu struck me as a word slammed into my mind. _Bumblebee_.

"Lynn!" I turned, leaving the strange feelings behind, following instinct and ran to my sister and best friend. The two were staring wide-eyed at the fighting behind me. I tried to ignore it, instead running to them and making sure they were okay.

"Is anyone hurt?" Elaine shook her head, her eyes not leaving the giant battling robots behind us. There was a crash and a brilliant flash of light causing me to turn but the two were still fighting, neither had come after us... yet.

"We need to go." I barked, grabbing at the hands of my companions. I had no time for a total breakdown.

"Go, we need to go." I cried forcing my sister and best friend into action.

We ran back towards the highway. Silently I was praying that a car that was actually piloted by a human would be coming but at one in the morning those chances were growing smaller by the minute. Thalia was ahead only by a little bit while I tried to keep pace with both her and Elaine who was lagging behind. We managed to get to the slope but one look and I realized that we weren't going to be able to get out. Thalia and I were wearing sneakers and it would be difficult but Elaine was wearing heels. For the first time I found myself cursing my sister's fashion sense. Luckily Elaine, despite being a fashionista, had little qualms about getting dirty. Bending down she took off her shoes, recognizing them as a hindrance in this scenario.

"What the fuck is that?" I spun, nervous that another robot was coming. I was almost right. A small creature only about two feet tall was coming at us, a silver robot. I didn't answer the question, instead using all my strength to force Elaine up the hill. My sister screamed in protest and a few choice profanities slipped from her mouth while I hauled ass and tried to push her while dragging Thalia up the hill. To my surprise Elaine threw one of her shoes. It slammed into the little robot but didn't do much besides make it angry. There was a loud explosion behind us causing me to jerk. The yellow robot turned from the one who had been the police car, its chest smoking under a large tree which had been pulled out by its roots. It strode towards us, dropkicking the tiny robot on its way over. All three of us froze, as it approached us.

"Stay away!" I shouted, trying to guard my sisters from danger. I was the oldest, that was my job. The robot made a sad little sound, as if upset that we were scared.

"I come in peace." A speaker crackled from him, why did that voice sound familiar? Wait... was that buzz lightyear? There was a snort that I was pretty sure came from Thalia.

"How... how did you do that?" I asked, my voice slightly less shaky. Not by much though.

"XM Satellite Radio... Digital cable brings you... ... Columbia Broadcasting System..." I winced at each static filled space between the few words.

"You speak through the radio?" Elaine asked, peering up at it in fascination. I could _hear_ the gears turning behind her eyes. I could already see her itching to check out this thing's engine. No not thing. The word buzzed behind my eyes. _Bumblebee. Bumblebee_. I shoved it away. The robot clapped his hands at her while the sound of a show host thanking the audience played over his speakers.

I stood, I wasn't going to cower on the ground. He didn't seem to care, stepping forward and holding his hand out for us. Was he asking us to climb onto his hand? The three of us shared a nervous look. Thalia took a deep breath and then stepped onto the metal. I glanced between Thalia and Elaine. I didn't know what to do. Elaine paused, glanced at the single heel in her hand. She scrambled down the slope, hands searching the ground until she found her missing shoe. She then ran back, joining me and in and instant scrambled onto the robot's hand just like Thalia.

"This is insane." I groaned. There was a sparking sound. With a shriek of fear I lunged for the robot's hand, grabbing my sisters, eyes wide.

I swear the strange noise that followed was the robot laughing at me. He stepped up, back onto the road, carefully allowing us to get off his hand before changing back into a car. It wasn't the same Camaro though, now it was a more modern version of the same car and a very expensive version of the same car.

"Get in." The radio insisted. A man's voice, but this one I didn't recognize. I glanced back at the sparking one in the field then to the one who had protected us.

"This is so cool! How do you work! Are you an AI?" I spun as Elaine, grinning walked up, running her hands along the car in appreciation. I gaped at my sister. I knew that machinery was her life, at fourteen she had already decided her future career: auto mechanic. More specifically she wanted to work on the big machines like tanks, airplanes and military machines. She had the passion for it and she was a whiz with technology but that didn't mean that she could just waltz right up to a piece of technology, that had been masquerading as her family's car.

For all she know it could be alien.

I shook my head. Why would it be alien? No it was more likely to be a government project, or a Japanese government project that was sold to the US and went rogue. Besides, aliens didn't exist. Yet I couldn't get past this feeling that I had been right the first time.

I was beginning to hate the feeling of deja vu.

* * *

 _A/N(Author's Note):_

 _Welcome old friends and new readers alike! This is, as you probably guessed my new story, Shooting Star. I'm super excited to see what everyone thinks of this new story. And yes, for those of you wondering, I am still continuing the Change the World series, Life Never Ends will be published in February as I promised, I was getting bored with no full stories to write._

 _Anyway I would like to thank my wonderful three Beta-readers for helping me with this story: mrsalicehale1, TriplechangerSpeedster1, and gururaj20000._

 _Princess Kassie Out_


	3. Dreams and Disasters

Chapter 2

Dreams and Disasters

 _Lynn_

I sat awkwardly in the backseat next to Thalia while Elaine sat in the passenger seat. I wasn't even sure how the seatings had been decided. I just knew that my sister was thrilled, Thalia was cautious, and I was feeling sick. The déjà vu kept hitting me and I was so tired of it. I didn't want this feeling around anymore and I knew one thing for sure. It was this car, robot, thing that was causing it.

The car, robot... whatever it was, swerved and came to a stop. We were in a part of town I had never been before. A quiet part of town, far from anyone I recognized. Looking around I realized that for whatever reason this place was abandoned. No one was here, the car doors opened. I jumped in surprise, then slowly undid my seatbelt. The three of us left the interior of the car bumblebee, no not bumblebee, that was stupid, why would a car be named bumblebee?

Something caught my attention. My heart jumped to my throat as I turned, instinctively reaching for my sisters. Several vehicles had stopped in the parking lot. The first was the front of a truck, one of the ones that truckers would use for their long journeys. It was blue with flame designs running up the 'nose'. The others came to a stop behind us. One was a yellow emergency vehicle of some type as it had sirens, another which I recognized as a black Ford pickup The last was some sort of silvery sports car. I felt another spike of fear and a heavy dose of déjà vu. I had little doubt that I not only knew the 'names' of these machines, but also their make and model. I didn't know why.

Then they began to change. I spun, trying to keep an eye on all of them as they transformed, why did that word sound so appropriate? from vehicles into vaguely humanoid shapes.

My heart was pounding erratically, but I was well aware of Elaine's wide grin and Thalia's curiosity. Why were neither of them scared? Why was I the only one who felt like my organs were trying to escape my skin?

The tallest of them, the one with flame designs, bent down so that his head was only slightly above mine. I swallowed visibly, trying to force my heart back down into my chest.

"Are you Lynn Jacobs? Descendent of Arthur Caron?" I stared at the giant, my mouth opening and closing like a fish. He didn't wait for me to reply.

"I am Optimus Prime. We are Autonomous Robotic Organisms from the planet cybertron." Aliens. They were aliens.

"You're aliens." Thalia stated, echoing my thoughts aloud. The yellow one leaned to glance at us,

"You can call us autobots." He said.

A burble of hysteric laughter escaped my throat. This couldn't be happening. Not really. I had to be losing my mind, dreaming. Something. Anything.

"What's cracking, little bitches?" That was the silver one.

I jumped in shock as he moved from standing to sitting, leaning against the building. Thalia grinned as Optimus introduced him.

"My first lieutenant. Designation, Jazz." Jazz seemed to grin, throwing one leg over the other.

"Why is he talking like that?" Elaine asked, turning to the giant robot alien without a hint of fear.

"We learned Earth's languages through the World Wide Web." This was too much. I sat, cradling my head in my hands. I was getting a splitting headache. The sense of déjà vu was strong enough to make me want to vomit. Why was I feeling this way?

"Lynn? Lynn, what's wrong?" Elaine rushed to me, suddenly forgetting her conversation. Thalia too hurried over. Both girls were worried.

"I'm fine... just a headache." I groaned. Elaine frowned and began rummaging through her purse for some pain reliever. She usually carried around a pack as she was usually very hard on herself and headaches were not uncommon for her either. I waved her away and stood. I didn't want to, but the dizziness and pain in my head had begun to abate. I knew it was because I was stressed that I felt this way, the painkiller would do nothing to help. I just need to calm down. Calm down when five robot aliens are staring at me.

"Sorry, I'm fine. Continue." I stated, Optimus's eyebrows, why did a robot have eyebrows? Moved down, pressing against his shining eyes. He gazed at me, with an almost human expression of concern.

"My weapons specialist, Ironhide." Optimus continued, still staring at me.

I eyed the... autobot, Ironhide. His face looked almost... animalistic with a broad nose and muzzle. He nodded at us. I frowned, something didn't feel right about that, like he should have done something else.

"Our medical officer, Ratchet." Ratchet's face was vaguely similar to Irohhides, a bit more human-like. He was looking at me carefully.

"Heartbeat is going far faster than average, perspiration increased... no signs of any abnormalities inside the body." He stated, eyes glancing up and down, taking me in.

"Her processor-" he coughed before correcting, "she is overwhelmed, but not in danger." I blinked and felt a small splutter of... happiness? Caring? I could tell that he was well meaning and had honestly been worried about my health.

"And, of course, you've already met your guardian. Bumblebee." It felt like my heart stopped. No, there was no way... I stood stock-still while Elaine grinned.

"I like it, it fits you." She told him frankly. Bumblebee seemed to beam at the compliment. Then she turned to Rachet.

"Is he mute?"

"His vocal processors were damaged." Rachet replied with a sigh, "I'm still working on fixing them." Thalia glanced at me and noticing my reaction grabbed my shoulder and leaned in to whisper.

"Are you alright?" I shook my head. How could I explain what was going through my mind?

"I'll be okay in a bit." I comforted her, taking a deep breath and stepping forward to grab Optimus's attention.

"I just have a few questions." I told him. He gestured with his hand, as if to say 'go on'.

"Why are you here on Earth? What's your purpose? And why did you contact... well, us.?." Optimus's blue eyes seemed to sag.

"It is a long tale." He sighed.

"We are here for the Allspark and we must find it before Megatron." He stated.

I glanced back at the girls nervously.

"Who and what?" Elaine asked. Optimus began to explain. I noticed though that he never directly answered the questions. He never said what the Allspark was for, other than that it could help create an army and he never answered who Megatron was other than the leader of the 'evil' party.

"Megatron followed the Allspark to earth. And there Arthur Caron found him." He continued, explaining how the coordinates to the Allspark were on my great-great-grandfather's glasses. I narrowed my eyes.

"How do you know all this?" I cried. This was all getting to be far too overwhelming.

"I never even heard of Arthur before today, I know nothing about these glasses, and how could you possibly know that the coordinates were on those glasses? None of what you just said makes any sense."

"It is all I can tell you now. All I need to know is if any of you know where those glasses may be." Optimus replied, evasively. I shook my head. I didn't know.

"Do you have any idea where it landed on Earth?" Thalia asked, catching my attention. Optimus glanced at her and then back to Bumblebee as if he suddenly just realized something.

"I thought there were only two girls." Optimus stated, looking to the side to observe Bumblebee.

Thalia's expression turned from questioning to annoyed as Bumblebee seemed to just stare at Optimus who nodded after a moment and turned back to Thalia.

"I don't believe I got your name."

"Thalia." She told him, her face flat. She clearly was not happy.

"Thalia." He echoed before continuing.

"We have a vague notion, we believe it to be somewhere on this continent, but that will do little. This continent is large and the enemy is greater in number than us. Only the glasses have the exact coordinates."

"And this Megatron guy." I pointed out.

"I do not know where he is. And even if I did I can only hope that he is inoperable." My mouth dropped open.

"Then how on earth do you even know the coordinates are in the glasses? Your knowledge just seems to come from nowhere! That's not possible." I barked.

My face was red. I was already fed up enough with this. The déjà vu, running for our lives, and now not being told everything. This was not okay at all.

There was a few moments of silence between the autobots before finally Optimus sighed.

"There was an audio wave sent by Megatron that held that information. It was intended for the decepticons, but we were able to access and decode it. This transmission seems to have taken up whatever remaining energy to do such which is why it was his last. There were others but they held little that was of use."

"How did you find my family then?" I asked, eyes flicking about in confusion.

"A World Wide Web Site called where your mother filled in information for her full family tree, as well as your fathers. She discovered your great-great-grandfather before she stopped using it." My face paled. I had known my mother had logged onto that site. Now that I knew I remembered her talking about a great-great-grandfather who was an explorer. I hadn't been paying a lot of attention at the time. I was beginning to wish I had.

"I'm sorry but the fact is we don't know about the glasses." I cut out sharply.

"Yes we do." Elaine stated, I turned to her in confusion.

"What do you mean yes we do?" Thalia too was staring at my sister in confusion. I didn't remember anything about glasses.

"Grandpa's glasses, you know the ones he never wore? They were cracked. I think grandma still has them. She took them after he died." I stared at my sister in total disbelief.

"Grandpa had glasses that he never wore?" I was trying to remember but was coming up with a blank. Instead another overwhelming wave of déjà vu attacked me. I wanted to call it something else but what else did you call the now ever-present feeling that you had seen this happen before? Elaine nodded.

"Yeah. He got really mad when I touched them. He... well... you know." She trailed off uncomfortably, telling me exactly how angry grandpa had gotten. I bit my lip.

"Give us a sec." I told Optimus. I grabbed my sister by the shoulder and Thalia by the elbow, dragging them past the autobots and a good distance away. Once I was sure that they wouldn't be able to listen to us I turned on my heel. I let go and opened my mouth but was cut off by Thalia.

"Are you okay?" She placed a hand on my shoulder, eyes worried. I shoved the hand away.

"I'm fine, I don't think we should trust these... Autobots. For all we know they could be the bad guys." My gut was telling me the opposite, but I just wanted to go home and pretend this had never happened. Elaine frowned at me.

"They're not the bad guys, Bumblebee-"

"Don't call him that!" My voice cracked, exposing just how terrified I really was. I could tell both girls had realized that.

"Lynn, what's wrong?" Elaine asked, eyes narrowed.

"You're not acting like yourself." Thalia added, crossing her arms. I spluttered under their stern glares. Slowly the story began to spill from my lips.

"I keep getting this... Feeling around them. It started this morning when I saw... Bumblebee. And then when he first changed into that form," I nodded towards the mechanical men who stood a distance behind us, "I knew his name, before we were even told it." Blinks of surprise from them both.

"Like déjà vu?" I jerked and stared openly at Thalia.

"How-" I began only for her to cut me off.

"Because I felt a little of it with Jazz. But that's it." I blinked. I wasn't the only one. That gave me some comfort. Elaine shrugged.

"I didn't feel anything but are you feeling better now though?" I nodded timidly at my sister's words. She smiled.

"So can we go back?" I shook my head.

"We need to decide what we're going to do. Do you want to help them? Because if those glasses did belong to grandpa, grandma isn't going to just 'let them go'" I pointed out. We needed an action plan if we did decide to help at all.

"Your grandma doesn't need to know," Thalia pointed out, "if anything I'd consider it getting even... you know with-" I cut Thalia off with a sharp look before sending a worried look at Elaine. As much as I hated to admit it, if the loss of the glasses could help make things even in Elaine's mind I'd do it in a heartbeat.

"Elaine?"

"I'm not going to forgive her." She replied sharply, "Stealing one pair of glasses can't even come close to being 'even'." I winced. I hated the divide between our grandmother and Elaine, it made me feel uncomfortable and unsure of how to approach either of them on that subject. I had forgiven our grandma but I had the suspicion that Elaine never would. Not that I really blamed her, I had been the favourite, I never faced what she had where our grandparents were concerned.

We lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

"Maybe we decide whether to get them the glasses, and whether to help them after that by a vote?" Thalia tried nervously. I paused then nodded brusquely.

"So all in favour of getting them the glasses raise your hand." Elaine's shot up, as did Thalia's.

"I guess it's unanimous then." Thalia stated. Blinking I glanced around and realized that my arm too was raised. I jerked it down roughly, feeling disturbed by the betrayal of my body. Furiously I clamped down upon it, holding it to my side.

"So all in favour of helping them somehow afterwards?" Thalia asked. There was silence and then both Thalia and Elaine's hands raised. I looked back and forth between them.

"Fine, then let's go get those glasses."

* * *

Sneaking into our grandma's house was a lot easier then I had expected.

I was alone, having left Elaine and Thalia behind to make sure the autobots didn't go anywhere. I didn't know why but I had a strange feeling that if left alone they would have followed me. These feelings were driving me insane. Shaking my head I dragged myself back into the present. Grandma kept a spare key hidden in her front yard. She said it was if we decided to ever come over. It was a hope that I felt awful for exploiting as we rarely came over, and never without out parents with us. More often than not Grandma would come to our place, and usually when my sister wasn't home. She unfortunately knew how unwelcome she was to my little sister.

They key clicked in the lock and I carefully eased the door open and then shut. I had taken my shoes off outside so my socked feet slid silently over the tile and wooden floorboards. The first thing I saw was rabbits.

My grandmother was an avid collector of anything with long ears and a puffy tail, she had stuffed rabbits, figurine rabbits, even those decorative plates that old people keep on the walls had rabbits on them. In the daylight it was cute and quirky, if not just a little unnerving in the bathroom. In the dark though it was eerie, even a little frightening.

I hurried through the house, trying to avoid the negative memories that bombarded me, and finally slipped into my grandfather's room.

It was of a totally different style than the rest of the house. Grandpa had been a practical man and his room reflected that. The only bit of decoration that existed was a small wooden stand with a model truck. Unlike the rest of the house I only had happy memories here. I wanted to curl up in a ball on my grandpa's bed and smell his old scent. But there was no familiar scent, just cold and dust. Grandpa had died several years ago at the ripe old age of one hundred and one. Technically he wasn't even my grandpa, he was my great-grandpa. Which meant the original owner of the glasses was his father. I wondered why grandpa never talked about his father, he talked about his mother and his older sisters, but never his father.

I wondered if it had something to do with what his father had seen and his subsequent disappearance. Glancing around the room I looked for the glasses. There was a glasses case on the bedside table. I moved over and opened them. These glasses weren't cracked and chipped as the autobots had suggested they would be and the frames were plastic. This was not the pair I needed, so where were they?

I shuffled softly about the room, opening every door and drawer. I found only one other pair of glasses, this one I recognized as the one grandpa had worn. Also not the pair we needed.

For a moment I wondered if grandma had thrown away the pair I was looking for.

There was a buzz on my phone. I opened my purse and checked it.

'Where are you?' from Thalia's number.

'Still looking, what's up?' I replied, before glancing around the room again. Where could a pair of glasses be hidden? Where would I hide something I didn't want someone to find?

'They're getting antsy, OP is keeping them calm but I'm worried it won't last much longer.' I looked up to think and my eyes set upon the model truck.

Could it be?

Nervously I stepped up onto my grandpa's bed and picked it up. The truck was one of the fancy ones that could open all the doors. I opened the driver's door with a click. I paused. That click had been a lot louder then it should be. Carefully I lifted the truck away. The top part of the stand came with it. Underneath was a glasses case: Jackpot.

'Tell them I've found it and am on my way back.' I texted, carefully slipping the case into my purse and resetting the model truck and stand. Hopefully grandma wouldn't even notice.

I hurried through the house and outside. Only sparing enough time to slip on my shoes and shove the key back into its hiding place. Scrambling I began to jog to where the autobots had hidden. I still didn't want to get too involved in all this but it was a done deal by now. There was no option. My shoelaces slapped my legs as I slowed to a lilting walk, turning a corner and seeing several very nice vehicles parked in an otherwise abandoned parking lot. Elaine and Thalia stood waiting.

"I've got it." I told them. Frowning I raised an eyebrow.

"Wasn't it only supposed to be one alien robot waiting here?" I asked, glancing at the black Ford. The annoyed expressions that flew onto my sister's faces instantly told me everything. Trying to suppress both the chuckle and the spike of fear that burrowed itself into my belly. I sighed and glanced around. It wasn't safe here for the autobots to change back into their more humanoid shape. Last thing I wanted was them to be seen by the general public.

I pulled out my phone, glancing at the time. 2:48 AM, great. I was exhausted, with all that had happened to us I had been running practically on adrenaline since 12:30. I was ready to drop right now but there wasn't time for that.

"Let's get you guys somewhere where people can't see you." Thalia stated as Bumblebee's doors opened. We clambered in. I sighed, taking the backseat. The autobots pulled out of the parking lot and I allowed my eyes to close. I was about to doze off when a familiar voice crackled over the stereo.

"Lynn, did you find the glasses?" I jumped in shock from my semi-asleep state at Optimus Prime's voice.

"Yeah," I replied, rubbing my head from where I had cracked it against Bumblebee's interior, "they're in my purse. My grandpa had them hidden in a secret compartment in his room. I was lucky that I even figured it out." I paused then frowned.

"How are you doing that?"

"Bumblebee gave me access through our comm link. Once you give us the glasses we'll send you home. Bumblebee will go with you, just to make sure that no decepticons attempt to harm anyone in your family."

"Not going to happen." Thalia told him. There was a surprised chirping noise from Bumblebee and silence over the radio.

"What do you mean?" Optimus asked, his voice showing just the slightest hint of curiosity.

"You guys don't know everything about earth. Besides humans can access things that cars cannot. You need us." There was silence.

"I would rather not involve children in our war." Optimus replied, "I would have been happier to have left your planet alone in peace, but I was unable to do that." There was a pause.

"I will not force you either way." He finally decided, "But you must understand that this is a dangerous path we walk. If you do decide to help us, you must obey my orders. Is that clear?" Before I could even open my mouth Eline replied.

"Yes, and we still are." Much to my relief Optimus chuckled.

"Give yourself a bit more time to think it over. You shouldn't take this lightly." I smiled softly.

"Thanks Optimus," I told him, closing my eyes and allowing myself to drop off.


	4. Gold

Chapter 3

Gold

 _Elaine_

The first thing I realized was that I had forgotten to take my makeup off. Grumbling, but now awake I pushed myself out of my bed. It was then that all my memories came back. Autobots, an alien species had made contact with my sister and her best friend. This was the best day, ever. Grinning, I hurried through my morning routine finished with washing my face thoroughly, making sure to apply my anti-acne cream. While I let it set I returned to my room to get dressed. I had worn my favourite red blouse yesterday and after all that we had gone through it needed to be washed. I tossed it to the side along with all the other clothes from yesterday. Rummaging through the piles of laundry on the floor and closet I carefully selected my outfit. It was one I had worn before so I knew exactly what I wanted. A flowing black skirt and a black, long-sleeved, blouse. Next I put on my corset, zipping up the back. Unlike what most people thought about a corset, mine was just for aesthetic purposes as it had elastic on the sides. The silver accents on the corset glinted as I examined myself in the full length mirror. Looking over to my desk I shuffled through the pile of silver bangles there, selecting a few and sliding them over my wrists. I glanced at myself in my reflection. It was nice but not quite... complete. I picked up one of the various ribbons that I had. This one was white, carefully I slid it under the collar of my blouse and tying it into a bow in the front, letting the extra three inches on either side fall down. I glanced in the mirror, double checking that everything was perfect, in particular the bow which both had to look tidy and the excess ribbon had to be even. Once I was satisfied I headed out of my room and to the bathroom.

Thalia was there, wearing pyjamas with a toothbrush in her mouth. She glanced at me and waved before spitting in the sink.

"Hi." I replied, before bending down and grabbing my makeup kit from under the counter.

While I decided on which makeup to use and applied it, Thalia finished brushing her teeth, her hair and putting on her own light dusting of makeup.

Once I was pleased with my own makeup, red lipstick, pale foundation and silver eyeshadow, I walked out of the bathroom and into the main house. Thalia was up, making cereal and so was Lynn. I could tell Lynn had been up for a while. She was an early riser and it was a guarantee that she would always be awake before me and often Thalia as well. Lynn, as usual was wearing jeans and a sweater which undoubtedly had a T-shirt on underneath. She glanced up at me from her computer, large bags under her eyes suggesting that the lack of sleep last night had really bothered her. For me it was almost normal but Lynn was used to going to bed by ten and she always woke up early. Staying up as late as we had last night had probably thrown her sleep schedule completely off.

While I put my bread in the toaster Lynn migrated from the couch to the table. She was going to say something.

"Do you still want to help... them?" She finally asked. Thalia paused and pushed her now empty bowl of cereal to the side.

"We should." I pointed out, leaning against the kitchen counter. Lynn glanced at me before finally asking what she had probably been thinking for a while.

"Why?"

"First off it's the right thing to do." Thalia stated, leaning backwards. Lynn grimaced but didn't disagree. I frowned at my sister.

"I want to know why you're not excited." I stated, crossing my arms, "Normally you're jumping at the opportunity for an adventure."

"Those are fantasy, things we do for fun, they're not serious." She protested.

"You've always wanted them though, you've told me that, you really wanted an actual adventure in real life. This is exactly what we've asked for and now you suddenly don't want it? That's not like you." I retorted, frank and matter-a-fact. Lynn shifted uncomfortably. Her eyes flicked away. I glared. Now she wouldn't even look at me. How old was she, ten?

"So are we going or not?" Thalia asked, quickly working towards destroying the dark atmosphere that was building up. I gritted my teeth and turned my attention to her.

"I still say yes." I stated. The unspoken 'what do you say' hung in the air. Lynn opened her mouth for a moment and I thought she was about to disagree. She snapped it closed before muttering her reply.

"Okay."

Thalia smiled, getting up to stand.

"We'll I've got to text my mom, let her know I won't be home for a few days." She grabbed her purse then situated herself on the couch to send her text.

Lynn and I shared a look. Unlike Thalia we couldn't just tell our parents we were leaving. We needed to have a plan, know exactly where we were going, and have checkpoints. Even more, our parents weren't about to let me go under only the supervision of Thalia and Lynn. Thalia was a great person, but my parents wanted an adult there in case Lynn and I butted heads, which in their eyes was inevitable. Most likely they wouldn't allow it. Lynn gazed back at me, unimpressed.

"I'll say I'm going on a road trip with Thalia." She stated before turning to grab her phone. I narrowed my eyes. She was mad at me, her body was radiating her fury. Lynn didn't like to rock the family boat. If she had what she wanted we would be one big happy family who never lied to each other. She didn't seem to understand that those families didn't exist.

"Tell them I'm going to Sarah's for a camping trip." I replied, picking up my own phone to contact Sarah and let her know as well as my parents. Luckily my parent's didn't know the phone numbers of Sarah's parents, but they trusted me to keep in contact and let them know what was going on.

* * *

Two hours later the final confirmation had been made and all three of us were packed. Bumblebee was waiting for us in the driveway and he wasn't alone. Lynn nearly froze, but I stepped forward. There was a boy in the driver's seat. He was about Lynn's age with blond hair and blue eyes. He wore black pants, a black coat and a yellow t-shirt.

"Who are you?" I asked, sliding into the passenger seat, leaving Lynn and Thalia to slide into the backseat. The person at the wheel gave a guilty smile and made a beeping noise that seemed to come from all around us. Lynn, Thalia and I all stared wide eyed at the 'stranger'.

"Bumblebee?" I asked. He nodded with a smile. I felt a jolt of excitement.

"How did you do that?" I poked him and my finger passed through. He waved my hand away with an indignant chirp. I smiled, buckling up as he tried to explain.

"Just an image... a doll for me?... let's play pretend!" The radio buzzed. I took a moment before I realized.

"So it's just an illusion, a hologram?" I asked. His face lit up into a brilliant smile and he nodded ecstatically.

"That's really cool." Thalia told him, causing Bee to squeal with excitement. Lynn shifted uncomfortably in the backseat and mumbled something. I blinked at her. Thalia sent her a look as well. Our combined gazes caused her to raise her voice and repeat herself.

"If you can do that... I can teach you ASL." Bee cocked his head eyes widening as he seemed to be looking it up. After a moment he grinned, hands making a strange movement. It was Lynn's turn to look shocked. Her hands flew as she replied in ASL. Lynn had taken ASL in grade eleven and twelve as her second language so she knew quite a bit. Bee however seemed thrilled with this new method of communication.

Bee parked in the same abandoned parking lot we had met the rest of the Autobots last night. They were all standing there in their humanoid forms as we drove up. I clambered out of Bee first, followed by Thalia and Lynn.

"So, where are we going?" Thalia asked, looking between all the autobots, her face alight.

"To a place called the Hoover Dam." Optimus replied. Lynn blanched, all the colour draining from her face.

"The Hoover Dam?" She croaked. I turned to look at her. Why was she so upset? Was she getting more déjà vu?

"Is there a problem with that?" Rachet asked, glancing at Optimus Prime.

"Its a friggin' fortress, security is everywhere, not to mention tourists. The chances of getting in without detection is nil. You'll be lucky if there's no deaths, especially if you try to force your way in." Lynn pointed out, looking nauseated. There was silence.

"We will face that when we come to it." Optimus stated regally. Everything he did seemed to hold an air of distinction and lordship. Then again, he was the leader of this military force.

"There's another problem." Lynn pointed out. We all glanced back at her.

"The Hoover Dam's over the border. Thalia and I have passports but Elaine and your 'hologram's' don't. Canada and the US are pretty strict about the rules, and they're not going to let a bunch of unmanned cars and trucks just enter the States either." Thalia sent Lynn a strange look.

"Is this why you insisted that I bring my passport?" Lynn winced and began rubbing her temple, something I had seen her do a lot of in the last few hours.

"I don't know... I just had this feeling." She admitted. I noticed the Autobots exchange a glance at each other while we were occupied with my sister. Did they know something we did not?

* * *

 _Jazz_

'Does anyone else think this is weird?' Jazz asked over comm so that the humans would not hear.

'That Lynn just seems to know what is about to happen? There are species that are known for having prophetic visions... human mythology mentions it several times as well... theoretically it is possible that Lynn has the same ability.' Rachet pointed out.

Jazz didn't reply. Did no one else feel it? As if they had lived through this before? He had risen from his berth just a few cycles ago to a particularly bad 'nightmare' as the humans call them about Megatron killing him, literally ripping him in two. The thought of it nearly made him keen in agony. Jazz's dream had ended with his death, but the repercussions still lingered in his spark. What would happen to his spark-mate if he passed on? It was far too often that spark-mates would die within a Groon after they lost their spark-mate, if not sooner. The few that didn't would become pit-bent on revenge and after they got it would kill themselves. He couldn't die, his mate was needed by Optimus at the very least.

'If that is so then she could be a valuable asset.' Ironhide added, dragging Jazz's processor from the rut it had been descending into.

'I will not ask that of her,' Prime replied firmly, 'she is unwilling as it is. No, not unless she volunteers the ability. Besides, we do not know what is causing her behaviour.'

Jazz vented deeply as the conversation continued with the humans outside the Comm. Eventually it was decided that they would synthesize passports for Elaine and themselves. While Rachet began working on those, carefully scanning the passports that both Lynn and Thalia had, Jazz once again found his processor wandering to the nightmare. It had felt so real, he was sure he had even felt his spark shattering, and then flying up towards Primus. Reaching deep inside himself for comfort he wrapped his mind around the connection between himself and his spark-mate. Even as stretched as it was, it was a comfort. He couldn't feel any of his mate's emotions, something he was becoming sadly accustomed to, but just the consistent pulse of his mate's spark comforted him.

'How long will this journey last?' He asked Optimus Prime, still holding tight to his spark-mate's pulse.

'Approximately four joors' Ironhide replied. Jazz vented again.

This was going to be a long trip.

* * *

 _Elaine_

I was... bored. Sitting in a car, stuck on a long highway with clogged up traffic because there was an accident up ahead. If I wasn't sitting inside an alien I wouldn't even believe that this was special. Lynn was reading a book, trying to pretend none of this was actually happening. Thalia on the other hand was relaxing in the back. I shifted uncomfortably. This was so boring.

"Are we there yet?" The radio buzzed. Lynn glanced up from her book, looking mildly annoyed as I barked with laughter. Thalia smirked, leaning forward so that her head was almost in the front with the rest of us.

"Bee can you tell us about Cybertron?" Thalia asked. A strange wail came from Bumblebee, causing all three of us to jump.

"Bee?" Lynn asked softly, putting her book aside in a surprisingly thoughtful gesture.

"There's no place like home." Dorothy Gale's voice echoed hauntingly from the radio. We all looked at each other.

"You don't have to Bee, not if it hurts you that much." Thalia quickly backpedalled. Lynn was rubbing her hand against the door frame in a comforting manner. To the surprise of both Lynn and myself, Thalia began talking.

"Well, I'm not sure what you know about earth but-" Thalia began to tell Bumblebee about history. I quickly interjected, going back and explaining the dinosaur era and ice age. As we moved into the Egyptian times Lynn slowly added her own thoughts, speaking about one of her favourite historical eras. As we talked the time seemed to pass quicker. We moved on from history into the more modern era. We talked about politics, the bad politicians, who won the vote last election, what political parties existed and what they stood for. That was mostly Lynn as she would soon be old enough to vote and was interested in the topic. I talked about fashion trends, telling Bumblebee how I was goth, but also enjoyed other types of alternate fashion such as steampunk, Lolita, and the various mixes between. Thalia talked about a lot of things, school, music (accompanied by an enthusiastic Lynn), technology (in which I added my own voice), and many other topics. Slowly the stories branched from earth in general to us. We talked about relationships, humorous moments, our favourite movies and their plots, books, pets, and so much more. We all carefully steered away from the more delicate parts of our histories. We all had them, the parts that we only mentioned to each other, the parts that were kept between the three of us. Even if our parents knew what happened they were unaware of what it was actually like, how it felt to be in those situations.

I dragged my mind away as Lynn began exaggerating how long it took me to get ready in the morning. Honestly, just because I prided myself on my appearance didn't mean I was opening myself up to ridicule. Her teasing was light so I replied in kind, pointing out how she rarely paid any attention to her outfits besides 'was it comfortable' and 'does it not kill those who look at it'. Thalia chuckled at that comment, electing a teasing glare from my sister.

Lynn brought up the time a boy thought me and him were dating when I had been totally unaware. He had called to break up with me and I had asked him when we started dating. That had been an awkward day.

I paid careful attention to the conversation from then on, carefully keeping it away from the various crushes I had that Lynn and Thalia knew about. I knew I could trust them mostly, but Lynn tended to let things slip when she was excited, her mouth would run off, leaving her head behind. Luckily Thalia picked up on my mood and carefully kept my sister from spilling the beans.

The last thing I wanted was for this secret to get out before I told my parents.

* * *

Primus winced. He had made a mistake and it was one he could not fix. When he had let something 'slip' he hadn't realized the repercussions of that would be. He had expected that the girl would have some minor feelings of familiarity, not feelings so powerful that they created an aversion to his children, ones she had once loved. Not only that, but now any person who is as 'hardcore' a fan as Lynn would have similar feelings when seeing something that their minds would associated with the fandom. Luckily most would have minor feelings of déjà vu. For some reason the results were amplified with Lynn. He was beginning to suspect that what Ratchet had said was true, that Lynn had some minor prophetic capacities. Of course, if left to its own devices she most likely would have never noticed. Glancing through Lynn's family Primus frowned. There was a family history of prophecy, the girl's own mother had a strong ability, surprisingly that was not passed down to either of her daughters. Lynn's prophecy was... sketchy at best. On average, once a year and only for a few seconds of time; she was never aware of what happened afterwards. Her ability had faded with age as well so the girl couldn't even see close to what she had when she was younger. That didn't stop his 'slip' from reaching out to that part of her, magnifying what should have been tiny pushes in the right direction. What was done was done however, if he attempted to make any other changes the other deities would realize that the merging wasn't natural and would come after him. He would just have to watch and wait. And hope that it would all work out well in the end.

* * *

A/N: So I felt the need to explain some things, first off this piece is a real challenge for me. This is because I am writing with three OC's two of which are not of my creation (Elaine belongs to my sister, who does not have an account on here and Thalia by TheMightySocks) and lastly because it is placed in modern day, which is not a topic I write about often. I think I've been doing a decent job, I hope so far that none of the story I have planned is confusing. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you have any questions just leave a review and I will reply through PM. If you are a guest I will reply down here. Speaking of which,

SunnySides: I'm glad that you plan to read more, I am curious about what confused you, you're review wasn't the clearest but I look forward to hearing from you again.

Princess Kassie Out.


	5. Dreams Don't Turn to Dust

Chapter 4

Dreams Don't Turn to Dust

 _Thalia_

We weren't even close to the Hoover Dam by nine. We had talked ourselves hoarse telling Bee stories. It was all worth it but it was exhausting. We had luckily been able to grab a lunch at a McDonalds although we had to eat in the building which had taken away from time on the road. It would have just been weird eating inside Bee, not to mention one spill would have had interesting repercussions.

"Don't you ever sleep?" I asked Optimus over the radio. Bee had been kind enough to patch us in to talk to his leader.

"We do recharge, however for us an entire day is not finished, therefore we have no need of it at this point in time."

"How long is your day?" Lynn asked, talking to Bee had warmed her to the bots and she was no longer acting as strange around them.

"A little more than three of earth days." Both Lynn and I blanched. One day to them was three to us? That was daunting.

"Well we still need to sleep," Elaine pointed out, "could we stop for dinner?"

"And to grab some blankets from the trunk?" I added, disliking the thought of sleeping in what might be the cold. I wasn't sure if Bumblebee could adjust his inner temperature like a car and if it would be safe for him to do that.

"I do not see why not." Optimus conceded, "There is a spot ahead that I believe will suit your needs."

"How do you know that?" Lynn asked, face scrunching in confusion.

"I accessed what is known as 'Google Maps'." Optimus replied. Elaine and I snorted, Lynn giggled. Next thing I knew all three of us were laughing. Something about an alien robot using google maps was just too hilarious for words. Of course Optimus didn't seem to understand why it was so funny which only added to the hilarity.

Eventually Bee parked, allowing us to get out. We were breathing hard, red faced and in Lynn's case, rasping like sandpaper as she attempted to pull air into her lungs after her _unique_ style of laughter. Elaine's and my own laughter didn't have as many side effects but was just as quirky.

Wiping tears from our eyes we stumbled into Burger King and got in line, ignoring the looks that the strangers in line were giving us. Elaine and I were still giggling but the sudden attention focused on us caused Lynn to clamp down on her laughter.

It wasn't until they were seated that Optimus's words struck home.

"Three earth days until they need _sleep_... if he's generalizing then that's three earth days to our twelve hours. One of their days, from beginning of one to the next... that would be six earth days... almost a week." I suddenly realized aloud. The dawning of understanding that crossed Lynn's face and the surprise in Elaine's just confirmed that my realization was right.

"If that's one of their days... how long is their year?" Eliane asked, glancing between Lynn and I. Not that either of us had any idea.

"Well we don't know how their planet works." Lynn began softly, "But they're probably really old." I frowned.

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"The fact that Optimus was talking about the Allspark and Megatron like it was personal, and the fact that Megatron was found my our great-great-grandfather. If he was found that long ago and Optimus has been looking for him all this time... that means that he's at least two hundred years old." Elaine explained. Her logic was sound.

"He's older." Lynn stated causing both of us to stare at her.

"He clearly knew Megatron well and fought against them. From the image he showed us both were adults before the war happened. Plus Ironhide and Rachet are older then that, they probably live for a really long time." She explained. The thought was disquieting. These aliens were older then us but were showing signs that they may very well outlive all three of us.

It wasn't an easy concept to come to grips with.

"How do you know they're older?" I finally asked Lynn, curious. She opened her mouth before shutting it awkwardly, unable to explain her knowledge. Elaine answered instead.

"Didn't you listen to them? They talk to Optimus like he's younger then them. They're respectful but its still there." Lynn shook her head, not questioning her sister's perceptiveness but I was surprised. I had known that Elaine was good at reading people but apparently that ability was able to be passed on to alien robots as well.

Dinner passed quickly, from then and we quickly filed back towards Bumblebee.

* * *

 _Seymour Simmons_

Paperwork. That was all his job came down to now-a-days. Paperwork. Even working in a secret government agency got boring when all you did was respond to UFO sightings and watch one particular family like a hawk.

Really he shouldn't have been surprised.

But that wasn't what he had joined this group for. He wanted to make a difference, in recent years however, he had come to the conclusion that there was nothing for him to make a difference. The only thing he had really done was occasionally visit to the place where Iceman and the Cube were and supervise the radiation levels. The creatures that had been formed because of the Cubes radiation were probably the most fascinating, however all of them had been put down as they were violent and dangerous. The last one that had escaped had gone on a killing spree before they were able to dismantle it.

"Sir! There's been a report about the Jacob girls." He glanced up bemusedly.

"What, did one of them break curfew?" He asked tiredly. Following two teenagers was particularly annoying as every time the girls did anything suspicious it was reported. Teenagers were prone to do things that were suspicious, it was in their nature, that meant that he was a great deal more well acquainted with the girls than he would have ever wanted to be.

"No sir they've both disappeared." He glanced up.

"What?"

"Both girls have just vanished. We cannot track either one, they and the older girl's best friend that is. Also the day they vanished we found this." A picture was slid over the desk. Glancing at it he stood, a smile curving around his mouth.

"Looks like we've got a live one." He grabbed the boy by the shoulder, dragging him out the door. The photo, abandoned slipped off the table before settling on the floor. Within it was a picture of a grain field, the plants were destroyed, earth had been turned up, they had been broken and squished. A large tree had been thrown into the middle of the field and there was a clear indent where something large and heavy had been thrown into the forest, destroying trees and leaving a distinctive imprint of something vaguely humanoid in the soil.

* * *

 _Thalia_

There was a roadblock a good mile away from the Hoover Dam. All three of us were chatting with the bots over the radio. Bee was unable to speak out loud of course but the other bots would occasionally speak up for him or he'd use an audio clip to explain. Occasionally his pretend human form would turn and sign to Lynn who'd then translate what he said. It was a hodgepodge method of communication but it would have to do until Ratchet repaired his vocal processor, which the medic had stated seemed possible in a few hours of work, provided he had the correct material.

We were about an hour from the Hoover Dam and waiting in a long line to make it into the parking area when Elaine, who had insisted on sitting in the front after lunch made a comment.

"That's weird."

"What's weird?" Lynn and I asked, almost in tandem. Blinking, I glanced at my adopted sister who shrugged.

"They're not just checking the cars, they have some sort of scanner too." Lynn shot bolt upright, her voice tightening.

"That's not right. Optimus, something's wrong, get everyone out of here."

"What is going on Lynn?" Optimus asked over the radio.

"They're scanning the cars, not just checking them. Is there anyway that humans could know you were coming?" There was silence. Suddenly a loud series of whirrs, squeaks and various mechanical noises came over the radio, shocking all three of us humans. What was going on?

"It is... possible." Optimus admitted after a moment.

"Great and the last turn off was half a mile back." I groaned, smacking my head against the seat, causing Bee to give me a buzz of annoyance

"How are we going to get out of this?" Lynn asked. I could tell that everyone was scrambling for ideas.

"Open the door." I stated, unbuckling. There was a chirp of confusion from Bee and a question blossoming from Elaine and Lynn. I ignored both, pushing the door open and walking out. Optimus was in the lead and I walked past him. The truck rattled as I passed, as if trying to catch my attention.

"Excuse me?" I asked the men who were currently scanning one car, "I was wondering if there was someway to turn around? I'm afraid my group didn't make the last turnoff and now we're stuck." One of the men glanced up.

"Which ones are your group?" Turning I gestured to Optimus and the others.

"We were going to a car show." I explained, knowing that with how fancy and wide variety that they had chosen it was the only possible expiation. The two men exchanged a glance but then nodded. One stepped away and began speaking into his walkie talkie in a rapid hushed voice.

"Alright, follow me." The one with the walkie stated, stepping away from the current car and moving towards Optimus and the others.

"So... a car show huh?" He asked lightly as he pushed the gate to the side. I nodded, joining him in the effort.

"I might have to check that out, I'm a big fan of car shows, especially ones that have as good quality vehicles as those you have there." I shifted uncomfortably at his easy tone. I watched as the autobots slowly slid into the second lane and began to drive back. Jazz at the end of the line stopped for a moment, his holo-form sticking his head out of the rolled down window.

"Thalia, get in." He called with an easy smile. Why wasn't I surprised with his holo-form? A grinning African-American with black cornrows wearing silvery jacket over a black top.

"Thanks." I replied, moving around to clamber into the passenger's seat. Beaming Jazz waved with one hand as he drove off. The holo-form stayed while Jazz spoke, but its mouth didn't move and it kept its face turned forward.

"You scared us back there." He stated.

"What was I supposed to do? Sit back and let you guys get found out?" Jazz chuckled at my petulant retort.

"I'm not saying that we're not grateful for what you did, but you scared us. You younglings shouldn't be risking your lives for us. We're supposed to be protecting you." His voice was not commanding or sharp. He was just stating facts as he saw them. I frowned, glancing at his holo-form.

"And I'm not going to just sit back and let you protect me." I stated. Jazz laughed, the car, his form rumbling around me. It fell silent as we turned off.

As we turned down towards the turn off I noticed the others were slowing.

"Is something going on?" I asked, glancing at Jazz. Suddenly in front of us Optimus changed from his truck form to his humanoid one.

"Get out." Jazz barked, throwing his door open. I unbuckled and lunged out the open door. All the transformers were changing and now I could see why. There were humans ahead, with more of those scanners... and guns.

In an instant Jazz had scooped me up into his large hand and was running down the mountainside. I screamed, heart beating erratically. We were going to die.

I could hear Elaine and Lynn shouting as well but the words, if there were any, were lost to the wind. However their screams were not lost to the autobots. They swept around a corner, the three of us humans still in their possession. They were all making a whirring sound, like when a computer is about to overheat. Optimus put Elaine down. Her shaky legs betrayed her, dropping her to the ground with a thud.

"Are you sure?" Optimus asked, staring down at her. She nodded.

"Yes, can you do it?" Optimus nodded. Jazz placed me down beside her, Lynn followed soon after. Elaine grabbed her purse and handed her phone to Optimus. For a second there was a whirring noise and then suddenly the phone beeped in a strange ringtone that I had never heard before.

"There." He passed it back, "Do not lose contact with this."

"I won't." Elaine promised. Optimus nodded and the bots took off, leaving us behind.

"What-? Why did they leave?" Lynn asked, confused.

"We need to stop them from being caught." Elaine explained, grabbing her sister's hand.

"Do I want to know what your great plan is?" Lynn asked nervously, one hand trying to untangle her messed up hair.

"Surrender."

"Are you insane?" Lynn cried, staring at her in shock. Elaine shrugged, unbuttoning her blouse and shoving her phone between her breasts. She buttoned it back up to her neck before grabbing both Lynn and my hands, dragging us out. I screamed and ducked, expecting gunfire. Nothing came. I looked up. The men had their guns pointed at us, but they weren't firing. They were staring at us.

"We surrender." Elaine shouted.

In five minutes all three of us were frisked, handcuffed, and marched back up to the Hoover Dam. Outside one of the doors marked 'employee only' a man met us. He looked at the both of us for a while, suspicious.

"You three have all been in contact with the NBE's."

"The what?" I asked, glancing over at Lynn and Elaine. Lynn was squirming uncomfortably, tugging at the handcuffs like a nervous tick. Elaine was staring blankly at the man, wearing her 'I really don't give a shit about you' face.

"I'll explain inside." He stated, gesturing at the door. The path was boring and eventually we were lead into a room with three chairs.

"I want to know everything you know about these extraterrestrials." A man stated, stepping in. I frowned, he looked familiar...

"Secretary of Defence." One of the soldiers muttered. I jerked. This was the secretary of defence in the states? It was official, we were screwed.

"No." Elaine stated. I nodded firmly while Lynn gaped at the two of us. Before shaking her head and nodding.

"Girls, I need to know if they're a threat to national security." He stated lightly, trying to appeal to us.

"They aren't a threat to us," Elaine stated.

"Well, they're not but the deceptions are." I pointed out.

"Deceptions?" The Secretary of Defence asked, glancing between the three of us. The man ran a large hand through his white hair. I would have felt bad for him if he wasn't holding three girls in a room with handcuffs... that sounded kinkier in my head then it should of.

"Basically, there are two factions, the autobots and the decepticons. The autobots are the 'good guys' and the decepticons are the 'bad guys'" Lynn stated. She wasn't done.

"They're both here for a cube. Its important to them." The secretary of defence stiffened.

"You know where it is," I stated, "You have to, since its hidden in here isn't it?" He stood.

"Take off their handcuffs." He told the soldiers before glancing over his shoulder.

"Follow me, I have something to show you."

* * *

"You're all idiots." I stated, gazing up at the huge twisted metal robot, frozen in place. Megatron.

"You're telling me that you literally have kept the one guy who could bring about planetary destruction right next to the very thing we want him to avoid?" Lynn nearly shouted, "Thalia's right, you're all idiots."

Elaine nodded mutely in response to her sister's words, her eyes wide as she stared up at the huge alien. Megatron had to be taller then Optimus, which was alarming as we had assumed that he was the cybertronian equivalent of a six foot tall guy.

"We need to get the bots here." Lynn added, "They can get the cube out of here and away from Megatron, the last thing we need is him waking up." She shot a nervous look at him while one of the men guiding us, one Seymour Simmons snorted.

"NBE 1 has been on ice for a long time, he ain't getting out anytime soon. In fact you're looking at the father of the modern era."

"That's more disturbing then comforting." Elaine retorted, causing me to snicker and Lynn to snort. Simmons glared and turned his back, deciding to ignore us. If only I had known how to shut him up earlier. The man talked more then Lynn on a sugar rush or Elaine when asked about fashion (or technology). It was both alarming and very annoying. They guided us to a viewing window down another hall.

The cube was huge.

The Allspark had to be twice or even three times taller then Optimus, etched in strange runes and clearly damaged in a few corners. It was majestic and I wasn't someone to use that word a lot.

"Question." Lynn muttered, sliding up to me, her mouth barely moving, "How the heck are we supposed to get that out of here?"

"Don't ask me." I retorted, still staring at the huge block. I honestly didn't have anything to say. How could the autobots even expect Megatron to move it off the ground? Unless the weapon could be used without moving it.

"Are you telling me you want us to invite the NBE's into the Hoover Dam and to take the Cube?" I heard one man ask. I turned and noticed Elaine was staring up at the man. Despite her five foot height she seemed to be attempting to stare down a six foot tall militiaman. It wasn't working but then again, these men were probably used to worse.

"Yes, they can get it out of here and get the decepticons off the planet." Elaine argued.

"I cannot-"

"Sir we have a breach!" The man jerked, spinning. All three of us jerked.

"What's going on?" I cried. Lynn's face lost all colour as the lights flickered and then went out.

"We've lost power!" One man shouted. While all the men began running around I heard Lynn say something that sent ice pouring through my veins.

"No energy, no ice."


	6. Alligator Sky Part 1

Shooting Star

Chapter 5

Alligator Sky Part 1

 _Optimus_

A shudder of dread ran through Optimus as he heard the cry of a power outage in the Hoover Dam. They had to get in there, somehow. Before he had even begun to stated his feelings Bumblebee had launched into action. Over the short timespan that they had spent with them the black and yellow mechling had come to care a great deal for the humans he was to protect. Optimus grunted. He would have to trust Bee.

"Surround the area, be ready for the worst." He barked at his team. They rolled out, moving so that every spot of the dam could be seen. They would be there as soon as there was a sign that the girls needed them.

'Bee, be careful.' He had promised Bee that he would treat him like a soldier just like any other but how could he completely ignore his sparkling?

'I will creator, I promise.' Bee replied over the comm before shutting off communications. Optimus vented deeply.

He hoped Bee would be able to keep that promise.

* * *

 _Lynn_

It was insanity. The soldiers and scientists were running about like ants who's hill got kicked over. That and somewhere Megatron was slowly being released from his imprisonment. We needed to get as far away from him as possible.

"This way." I cried, grabbing the other two and rushing through a door leading away from Megatron's chamber. I didn't know where it lead other than the fact that it was away from the Decepticon leader. In my mind that was ideal, I didn't care where it was. Elaine was shouting something at me but blood was rushing through my ears.

I rushed through another door only to freeze. I was promptly slammed into by the other two. I heard a few words that my brain didn't comprehend only for them to fall silent as well.

We were standing in the giant room dedicated to the Allspark. The thing was huge, from down here on the ground it had to stand fifty feet or more.

"Oh boy, Bumblebee? Can you find us, we've found the Allspark." Elaine's voice echoed in my mind like I was underwater. I swore that there was a strange whispering coming from the cube, a voice calling me... no, not me, us.

"Lynn." Thalia's hand landed on my shoulder, jerking me from my thoughts.

"What? Oh right." I mumbled breaking out of my trance and turning to the others. Elaine was talking into her phone, her blouse unbuttoned almost to the bra. No one else was here so I supposed modesty wasn't important right now.

"Bee's coming." She stated, tucking the phone properly into her pocket and redoing the buttons. I nodded absently and looked back up at the Allspark.

"How are we going to get that thing to move?" I asked, pointing at the huge thing. Not even Optimus could have moved it if he tried.

"Honestly? No idea. I guess we'll have to hope the Autobots have a plan." Thalia spoke, joining me in staring up at the huge metal block.

Five minutes later Bee charged in through a large door at the back.

"Is anyone hurt?" A male voice asked from over his radio. All three of us shook our heads.

"We're okay, Bee." Thalia comforted before looking up at the Allspark.

"We just want to know how the heck you're going to move that thing." Bee made a sound which I assumed was a laugh and strode forward, reaching up and resting the very tips of his fingers on the giant chunk of metal.

There was a jolt and yellow energy flowed across its surface. We watched in awe as it compressed itself, folding like an origami puzzle box until it was no larger than a football.

"Fuck," Thalia muttered.

"You said it," I replied. Bee hummed and passed the mini-Allspark to Elaine before transforming into his alt-mode. Elaine rushed into his interior, Thalia and I right behind.

Once we were buckled Bee took off at a breakneck pace, I pulled myself into a tiny ball, making myself as small as possible. Begging to God to keep us all alive.

* * *

 _The Allspark_

It may not have been able to move in the ways of its people, or the humans it had spent generations observing, but that didn't mean it was just an object. It belonged to Primus and Unicron, it held no allegiance to either deity. It did what it was told and what was best for the species it belonged to.

The human child who had been selected as the warrior rested her hand against its metal. Its mind wandered to another child before the deity had merged the world. A boy named Sam who hadn't wanted what he had been given. These girls, though... The spark could feel that they were more determined, more willing. Thalia and Elaine would be strong protectors of the Allspark's people and Lynn, eventually, hopefully, would step up to the plate and accept her place as the new Spark. It knew it. Its destruction was coming close but it would live on, just no longer in the form it currently possessed. It would survive on in the girls that Primus had chosen.

It wasn't going to allow itself to die this time. Its survival was needed for the survival of the cybertronian people. For thousands of years, and since time began the Allspark had given life to the empty shells that had been offered to it by those looking to be parents. It had read their sparks and assessed whether they deserved or were ready for a sparkling.

That wasn't to say it hadn't made mistakes. There were times where Unicron or Primus would state that a sparkling needed to be born from a certain family. Other times the Allspark legitimately misunderstood or missed something vital when reading. Reading sparks was not a perfect situation, it was fallible and as such there were many sparklings over the generations that had been given to less than ideal families. That was life. Nothing, not even Primus or Unicron were infallible.

It eased some energy back into the girl who was clutching it as Bumblebee flew past his creator. It hadn't been too long since it had given the little one, who now it rested in, life. Bumblebee was no more precious to the Allspark then any other spark it had been given, it could remember with perfect accuracy the 'birth' of Optimus, Jazz, even Ironhide. The creations of every one of Primus and Unicron's sparklings.

They were heading towards the city. The Allspark braced itself. It would have to deplete enough of its energy into the three girls that it remained a whole being. It had never done anything like it. It wasn't even sure if it could or how it would affect the girls. But it would do everything in its power to save its people, even if that meant permanently destroying the girls. Its people came first.

Bumblebee screeched as he entered the city, tossing the girls out. Elaine was holding the Allspark.

"Get the Allspark away from here, I'll distract Megatron." A man within Optimus shouted. His holo-form. However, the Allspark had little time to observe exactly the appearance that the Autobot leader had chosen as it was passed to Thalia. Instantly the spark began pouring energy into her. This girl needed a great deal of energy for her role as the Guardian.

The three girls ran past confused civilians as the soldiers who had followed them began shouting about evacuation over megaphones. The Allspark opened its reach further to see what was going on. Five Autobots and eight deceptions, hidden away as a cop car, several large pieces of machinery in a construction site, and a helicopter. Not to mention the plane that was following them and would be here any second.

The guardian was not calm, the Allspark realized as it looked inwards. Her mind was cussing up a storm, mainly consisting of the human word for Frag. She seemed to prefer that cuss over others. The Allspark did not interfere with her mindset, it was all too suitable currently. Besides, this way she wouldn't notice the energy being added to her body.

Megatron entered the city with an explosion of gunfire. A signal to his troops. And suddenly the entire place was full of Decepticons.

It became impossible to keep track of all the cybertronians. Their sparks flew all about, crashing into walls, vehicles, each other... It was much easier to keep track of the humans who were holding it.

"We've got to keep the Allspark out of Megatron's hands." Thalia was hissing at the others, her mind managing to focus better but still cussing at points.

"How are we going to do that? Have you seen his size? He can squash us flat!" Lynn was clearly hysterical, her heart was pounding so fast that the Allspark felt a tinge of worry for the girl's health.

"Exactly. We're smaller, more maneuverable, we can get into tiny places that he can't." Elaine stated, taking the Allspark from Thalia's hands before adding.

"Have you ever played keep away?" The Allspark dove into her mind, releasing energy and at the same time exploring what she was thinking. It was a decent plan. The three of them would run about the city, passing the Allspark off to each other in a strange relay race. It was a decent plan until they ran out of energy or another. Three human girls could not keep this going for that long, especially against a cybertronian of as high a caliber as Megatron. They would need help.

Lynn started off. Taking the Allspark nervously before tearing off at a breakneck pace. She zipped out of the enclosed space that she had been hidden, her legs pumping. Inside though was nearly a consistent flow of screaming and 'oh God I don't wanna die'. It was slightly irritating. Still the Allspark had a job to do, giving the girl its own raw energy, it was what Primus wanted and what Primus wanted was always first, then the Allspark would fill its own objectives.

Lynn didn't have to call to Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons had already become aware of her. With a bellow of fury, he charged after her.

Lynn squeaked like a turbo-rat and sprinted off at a pace faster than the Allspark had expected. It appeared that the girl could be quite speedy if she was desperate enough. Feeding energy into her body to keep the adrenaline pumping, the Allspark made sure that Lynn could keep going.

"Lynn!" Next second the Allspark found itself air born before getting caught in Thalia's arms. Then that girl took off, dodging between Megatron's legs. The giant bellowed in rage, turning to chase after her but was stopped by Optimus's interference.

"Go!" He shouted. Thalia tore off, sliding behind the tank that had gotten them there. One of the soldiers, one who the Allspark remembered was named Lennox, grabbed Thalia by the shoulder.

"Tell the others to get this thing to the white building with the statues. There will be a helicopter that will come to pick this up. Do you understand?" The girl nodded and then took off again.

She tore past Elaine, tossing the Allspark into the air and relaying the message. It was getting rather tired of being tossed about like a football, but as these were its last moments alive the Allspark decided not to complain. Not that anyone could have heard or understood those complaints besides the deities watching if there were any watching at this minute.

Elaine was booking it towards the building, another Decepticon, Barricade, the Allspark remembered, as the black and white mech swiped at the girl. Once again the Allspark found itself air born. Lynn's hands grazed one side of it, fumbling and letting it hit the ground.

The Allspark had almost expected it after all eventually, it would hit the ground. This time, though it sent a spurt of energy in one direction alone. Lynn didn't even notice as she picked the Allspark up once again and began running. The Allspark quickly filled her with all the energy she would need for her task, it could sense that its time was running out. There was no more time for slow integration. The girl shrieked as the energy flooded her body, causing her to trip. She twisted, protecting the Allspark from the fall. Then a scream tore through her throat as Barricade stepped forward, swooped down and snapped the bone in one of her legs.

"You won't be running anywhere insect." He hissed. Lynn was crying in pain, screaming in agony. The black and white Decepticon reached down for the Allspark. The Allspark recognized a spark-signature. Ironhide came barrelling through, throwing Barricade to the side. Behind him Elaine rushed forward, face pinched in worry for her sister. Lynn was barely holding the Allspark, pain and hysteria taking over her.

"Go!" A voice barked, startling Eliane out of her stupor. She took the Allspark from her sister and ran off. The Allspark could tell she was worried, terrified for her sister. The Allspark knew she would be fine. It was only her leg that was broken, besides it had felt a familiar spark presence arrive where the girl was. There was no doubt in its mind that Rachet had taken the girl somewhere safe.

Elaine and Thalia continued the relay, bouncing the Allspark back and forth. The Allspark draining its energy into the two girls.

It's thought processes were slowing, it could no longer sense other sparks, and its awareness of the outside was fading. It was dimly aware of Thalia hiding behind a statue to avoid Megatron and then, it felt like no time passed but that couldn't be right. Because Thalia was hiding under some rubble while Optimus and Megatron battled it out. Optimus was losing.

"He said that putting it into his heart would destroy the spark. That's what Megatron is after. If it's gone-"

"He also said that it would kill him." Thalia hissed back, stepping out. Optimus begged her to plunge the Allspark into his chest. Thalia looked between Megatron and Optimus then walked over to Megatron. The huge mech laughed at Optimus's scream of betrayal.

Both were cut short when the Allspark felt itself be thrown upwards. Its last action was to force the last of its energy into Thalia.

All sensation ended.

* * *

Creator – the cybertronian version of father, they have a different word for mother

Mechling – male teenager

Sparklings – infants


	7. Alligator Sky Part 2

Chapter 6 Alligator Sky Part 2

 _A/N: There will be a great deal of POV switching in this chapter. I promise that there will not be anywhere close to the same_ amount _of switching in any other chapter coming up. This is a_ one-time _thing just to fill in the gaps that the last chapter left._

 _Princess Kassie Out_

* * *

 _Lynn_

I scrambled out of Bumblebee. Eyes wide as the soldiers behind us shouted about an evacuation. All the people in the streets turned, confused as the soldiers flooded into the streets. Elaine was holding the Allspark tight to her body. We exchanged a look. There was no way that all these people were going to get out in time. I opened my mouth to add to the shouts when Optimus spoke.

"Get the Allspark away from here, I'll distract Megatron." I turned and blinked to see an adult man sticking his head from Optimus's cab. He was about the age of my father and I could see little bits of grey pepper the light brown. I was not able to take in the rest. Thalia was suddenly holding the Allspark and shouting at me to get moving.

I quickly chased after my sisters, unsure of where we were going, just 'away from here'. I wished Optimus had been more specific but there was no time for that.

Megatron entered the city with what felt like a sonic boom. I flinched and followed Thalia and Elaine as they hid in an alley. Once she was sure that we were listening, Thalia turned.

"We've got to keep the Allspark out of Megatron's hands." I started, was she insane? We were going to have a hard enough time staying alive.

"How are we going to do that? Have you seen his size?" My voice raised hysterically, "He can squash us flat!" Internally I was screaming at myself for ever wishing for an adventure. I was an idiot.

"Exactly," Elaine interjected. I stared at her, was she insane?

"We're smaller, more manoeuvrable, we can get into tiny places that he can't." I shook my head. There was no way that this was going to work.

"Have you ever played keep away?" Yep, definitely insane. I wanted to quit right now, just walk away, open my eyes and scream that this was too much and I didn't want to play pretend anymore. Then it would all go away. It didn't.

"You go first."

"What?" I yelped as Elaine passed the Allspark into my hands. I stared at the cube before grimacing. Fine. But I wasn't happy about this. I slunk out of the hiding spot then booked it for the first building I saw that could potentially keep me from dying.

Oh dear God I don't wanna die. Please don't let me die. The mantra kept repeating in my head. I wanted to live. Suddenly university was looking like such a good choice.

I felt more then heard Megatron begin to chase me. The speed I was going jerked up the dial as I tore through the area faster than I had ever run in my life. I heard my name shouted. I instantly threw the Allspark. Get the thing out of my hands and as far away from me as possible. Thalia caught it and took off. Megatron bellowed as my best friend dodged between his legs and past him. I quickly jogged around the block, carefully avoiding the battles going on around me as I hurried to catch up. I couldn't leave her alone out there, no matter how badly every instinct was screaming for me too.

I caught a glance of Elaine out of the corner of my eye and quickly pursued her. Suddenly she had the Allspark and came charging my way, a familiar black and white Decepticon behind her.

The Allspark came sailing towards me I tried to catch it, still stunned by the reappearance of the evil police cruiser. I missed, grazing the Allspark. It hit the ground. I winced and quickly picked it up and tearing off.

I didn't get too far. Something... a strange sensation caused all my senses to shift, causing me to lose balance and trip. I landed on my back, Allspark pinned to my chest. The evil police car stepped forward, grinning.

"You won't be running anywhere insect." He reached down and put two digits on either side of my leg. I couldn't move, it was like lead was covering my chest. Oh God, I was going to die.

Pain blossomed through my leg. Someone was screaming. It might have been me. I couldn't tell. Black coloured the edges of my vision... nothing seemed to make sense.

I was vaguely aware of being picked up by a large hand. Autobot hopefully.

I blacked out.

* * *

 _Rachet_

He carefully scooped Lynn into his hand. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She was unconscious. That was good, he did not have the medical equipment to relieve her pain currently. He did a quick scan and sighed when he realized the break in her leg was not as bad as it could have been. She would be unable to walk for a time, approximately two months. He carefully held her tiny body close as he hurried through the battlefield that was once a city. For the first time in his life, he wished for a sparkling chamber. A human could fit inside one so perfectly. Of course, the only bot on the team who had a sparkling chamber installed was Jazz, but it had never been used. Something moved in the corner of his eye. Stopping he turned, his optics staring at the creature, about the size of a sparkling on their fourth upgrade stepped out, red optics wide. Rachet for a moment was almost tempted to kill it. But it wasn't attacking, it seemed rather meek... then the distinct sound of sparkling speech filtered from its vocal chamber and he knew. This was not just a mindless creature, it was a sparkling.

* * *

 _Jazz_

He was running. The soldiers were shooting at Megatron, he tore after the large mech, ignoring the small pellets. He would distract the ex-lord protectorate until the Allspark was safe. That was his job. As he shot at the giant mech, his own form greatly dwarfed. He opened his mouth but fell silent, his 'nightmare' ringing in his mind. He quickly backed up, spark tearing in conflicting directions. If he retreated that would leave Megatron free to do whatever he wanted, that and it was a cowardly thing to do. But if he continued he could die... and his mate would die. He backed up further then ran. I'm sorry Optimus, he whispered, if it was just me... but I can't kill my mate. I can't. He rushed away, engaging in battle with the Decepticon helicopter, Blackout.

* * *

 _Elaine_

I tried to keep the vision of my sister screaming in pain out of my mind as I ran with the Allspark. Thalia glanced at me and I half-heartedly threw the Allspark to her. I was scared for my sister.

"Go." I jerked, Thalia was running, eyes straight ahead, "Make sure Lynn's alright."

"But."

"Just go." I grit my teeth. Go make sure my sister was safe or help a friend. I turned back, my face set. This had to be done. I would check on my sister later. Thalia needed me right now, at least until we made it to the white building. Then I'd go and check on Lynn.

"I'll go once you're at the white building," I told her. I could see it now, just a few blocks ahead. We kept running. I could still hear gunfire, screams, the clash of metal on metal.

We reached it a few seconds later. Thalia stopped at the door and nodded to me before taking off. I took a deep breath and turned around. I needed to find my sister.

I jogged through the wreckage of the city. It had calmed down somewhat. Like before a storm. I added mentally. While it appeared that all the 'minor' Decepticons had run off, which seemed like a good thing I couldn't help but worry that something awful had happened.

"Elaine." I shrieked, nearly jumping out of my skin in shock. Turning I choked out an angry sentence.

"Ironhide. Don't scare me like that." Ironhide blinked.

"Sorry. Where is Thalia?" He asked, reaching down and offering me his hand to climb into.

"At the white building... my sister..." I trailed off. I was unsure of what to say.

"Lynn has broken a leg, Currently, a human medic is attending to her." I sighed in relief as I sat in Ironhide's hand.

"Thanks."

"No problem." There was a pause as he carefully lifted me up and began to walk. I felt strangely full of energy like I wound never grow tired. Now that I knew Lynn was safe I should have felt exhausted as the adrenaline wore off and I relaxed. I didn't.

Ironhide put me down in an area reasonably cleared of rubble. In it was a paramedic tent, a few injured soldiers and most noticeably, Rachet who was placing clamps on tubes that hung from Bumblebee's legs, leaking some strange pink liquid. A tiny green Autobot I didn't recognize sitting beside him. But I didn't have time to wonder. I hurried right to the paramedics, Ironhide leaving the area, most likely to join whatever fight still remained.

"Lynn," I called. My sister flapped a hand at me, giving a sloppy smile.

"Hi E," she hummed, patting a place on the cot next to her. I stared at her for a second before taking the seat. She was drugged up on painkillers, I could tell. Understandable of course, she was probably in a lot of pain. She frowned at me, face twisting in discontent as she reached forward.

"Your clothes are all messed up."

"So are yours," I replied, taking note of the long tear in her sweater. She was not going to be happy about that once the drugs wore off. She reached forward, tugging on the white ribbon wrapped around my throat. I glanced at it, realizing that it was half undone and lopsided to boot. I had also lost two bangles, a silver accent in my corset, and my skirt had ripped at the seam line. It was not the appearance that I wanted but, as most people and their clothes were in worse condition, I figured I was doing well.

Lynn was still trying to fix my bow, a look of intense concentration on her face, her hands fumbling. Sighing I took her hands off and fixed it myself, untying and then carefully readjusting it until the ribbon was even. Sometimes I felt like I was the older sister. Despite Lynn's insistence to protect me, I felt like I was the one taking care of her. She was the one who our family had been sheltered, cooed over as if she was a little angle. I was the devil's child and those very words had been actually used to describe me when I was younger. I didn't care, the two of us watched over each other, protected each other. The devil and angel working together.

That was just the way it was.

* * *

 _Thalia_

I panted as I reached the top of the building. I was out of breath, but not by the amount I had thought I would be. I didn't have time to think about it I hurried to the edge of the roof. I could hear the sounds of a helicopter. They appeared over the rim. I stretched out, planning to pass them the Allspark when a vaguely familiar sound caught my attention. A missile. I pulled back, Allspark clenched in my hands and ducked. The 'copter was destroyed, blown to smithereens. Four people dead. I didn't have time to even feel sorry. Another missile was shot towards me. Rolling over and spinning around I charged out of the way, hearing the thing slam against the roof where I had been laying not seconds before. The explosion threw me forward. I managed to catch myself and continue to run. Megatron was coming after me. Whatever distraction had kept him busy no longer there. I felt a stab of worry for Optimus but it was overshadowed by the fear of my own wellbeing.

It's just like a video game. I thought to myself. Slinking behind one of the large statues. Stay hidden and stay safe.

"Give me the Allspark and you may live to be my pet," Megatron suggested, striding forward, red eyes gleaming. Crap, he saw me.

"I wouldn't make a good pet! I tend to bite to much." I jeered, trying to hide the fear that was pounding through my body. I heard Megs mutter something but wasn't able to register it due to the sound of my heart taking up most of my hearing.

The statue was destroyed, sending me flying. It was funny, most people see their lives flash before their eyes. For me there was nothing. Then a metal hand caught hold of me, dropping slightly so as to soften my landing.

"Optimus I may actually kiss you for that," I whispered, my breath nearly gone.

"Hold on to the cube. I've got you." He told me, dropping to the ground and ignoring my comment. I screamed in terror as he bounced off one building to the next, slowing his fall as Megatron came after us.

Optimus landed on his back, his hand protecting me so that I was barely jostled. He stared at me, laying on his chest.

"If I lose this, you must force the Allspark into my chest. Is that understood?" I nodded and scrambled away as he stood to face Megatron.

I turned to rush into the first hiding spot when a glint of silver caught my eye. Elaine was hiding under some rubble, waving at me. I scrambled to where she was.

"What are you doing I thought you were checking on Lynn."

"I did, she's okay. But I heard that explosion." She explained before glancing at the Allspark.

"Are you alright?" She added, her eyes scanning my face with worry.

"I'm fine. It's Optimus who I'm worried about." I replied, glancing out from behind the sheet of metal above us to stare at the two giants battling. Elaine joined me, wincing when she realized just how badly Optimus was being thrown about.

"He's tired," I added. Elaine turned back to me, pulling us back behind our cover.

"He said that putting it into his heart would destroy the spark. That's what Megatron is after. If it's gone-"

"He also said it would kill him." I lied. He hadn't said that but it was obvious. If putting it in his chest would destroy the thing, that meant that it was not going to just disappear. It would kill him, he didn't need to say it for me to know. Basic logic. I stood and stepped out. Optimus was closer to me. He saw me and pointed.

"Thalia, please." He begged. If I hadn't known that it would kill him before I did now. The look in his eyes was a sad desperation. I looked past him, walking straight towards Megatron. Megatron laughed, thinking I had finally 'seen reason' and decided to hand it over. Optimus screamed in anger and betrayal. I ignored both, watching as Megatron leaned over, exposing his chest for me. Gathering every ounce of my strength I threw the Allspark up.

"Did you forget that I bite!?" I shouted. There was a split second of horror that flew across Megatron's face and then the light show began.

I hit the ground, cowering away as Megatron screamed in agony, falling backwards and writhing, animalistic noises spewing from his throat. Finally, he went still. Optimus stood, staring at Megatron and quietly spoke.

"You left me no choice brother." I jerked and turned to stare at him. Megatron was his brother? That was not something that I expected. Turning back to me he bent down.

"I owe you my life." I nodded mechanically, unsure of what to say. I wasn't tired and that felt... strange. Weren't people supposed to be tired after participating in a battle?

Slowly more human soldiers and the other Autobots appeared, sensing that the battle was over.

"Come, there is medical attention that must be applied," Optimus stated, bending down and offering his hand. I clambered on. Last second Elaine rushed out and joined me.

* * *

"What is that?" Ironhide's cry caused me to jerk. The paramedic who had been cleaning up my face to get a good look at the cut over my eye shot an annoyed look and began to once again wipe it down. Ironhide was staring, guns pointed at a very small (smaller than Jazz that is) green bot who was currently hiding behind Rachet.

"I call him Dispenser. The Allspark gave us one last gift before it was destroyed." Rachet replied. Ironhide seemed to freeze.

"A sparkling." He nearly whispered. Sparkling... was that their term for a child? And how did the Allspark make a kid? Optimus stepped forward to talk to the little one which was still hiding behind Rachet, red eyes wide.

"Look forward." The paramedic treating me directed. I growled under my breath but did as they asked. He touched the wound then nodded.

"You're lucky, any deeper and it would have needed stitches," He stated, placing a thin white piece of tape over the deepest part of my cut to help keep it closed. He nodded and stepped away.

"You're free to go now." He told me. I quickly stood up and hurried over to the bots. Rachet was talking to 'Dispenser' quietly while Optimus seemed to have shifted his attention to a few humans in black suits. Not part of the battle then. Elaine was standing between the two groups, arms crossed and looking thoroughly angry.

"No. Your government are the idiots who placed the Allspark beside Megatron in the first place." I quickened my pace, closing the gap between myself and the group.

"Miss, I'm afraid that this is not of your concern-"

"They landed in Canada. My sister, Thalia and I are all from Canada, it is very much our concern and we say the Canadian government should know." She retorted. I stepped back. Politics, great. Still, she had a point. Changing direction I moved to stand beside Ironhide.

"You wouldn't happen to know the phone number for the Prime Minister would you?" I asked softly once I had gotten his attention. Ironhide blinked but after a second nodded. I pulled out my phone and typed in the number he relayed to me. While it rang I hurried back over to the group and handed the phone to Elaine. She took it, a questioning look on her face.

Prime Minister I mouthed at her. Her face lit up and she began to speak, explaining the situation to the Prime Minister in front of the shocked American agents.

All in a days work, I thought with a wicked grin as the superior of the group was handed the phone and began tripping over himself to diffuse the situation.


	8. Cave In

Chapter 7

Cave In

Lynn

"Miss Jacobs?" I glanced up, my eyes had been fixed on my cast, trying to wonder how I was going to explain all this to our parents without them never trusting us again.

"Yes?" I asked, glancing up and carefully picking up the crutches that had been left for me at the side of the bed. Two agents in professional starch-ironed suits stood at the door. I wasn't sure what sort of agency they worked for, Secret Service, FBI, Sector Seven. The last one made me shudder internally. After all, it was that agency that was in charge of Megatron.

"We're here to escort you home." I stared at the agents in suits for a moment.

"What about Bumblebee?"

"It will be coming as well."

"He." I corrected, my eyes growing cold. I still may not have been sure what I felt about the Autobots but I wasn't going to be cruel and call a living being it. They didn't reply.

"Where are my sisters?" I asked, carefully balancing on the crutches and hobbling towards them. The hospital lights causing me to narrow my eyes.

"Miss Jacobs and Miss Cook are waiting for you." Man one stated. Neither had name tags so until I knew their names it was man one and man two for them. I cursed under my breath and hobbled out of the room. Man one led the way while man two walked behind me. I followed man one outside, shivering as the wind blew into the large tear in my sweater. It had been one of my favorites, I thought with a scowl. Then I saw the cars that were waiting for us and fell silent. No wonder they weren't worried about time. A sleek black van with tinted windows and no markings, two cop cars, and Bumblebee waited before us. I glared at the agents before opening the van door and sliding in beside my sisters. The crutches were carefully tucked out of the way. Neither Elaine or Thalia looked particularly happy about this arrangement. The two agents clambered into the front seats in the vehicle. While man one began to start the car, man two turned around.

"Your parents have been called and made aware as to the situation. They are going to meet us." My face paled. If my parents knew already... Thalia and Elaine clearly were thinking along the same lines. They too had expressions of shock or horror. Man two continued.

"We have found a neutral location for all of you to meet. There you and your families will sign documents promising that you will not speak of what occurred to anyone. If you sign the government has decided to give each of you a stipend for you to use toward your futures."

"Hush money you mean," Thalia stated in a dead tone. Man two did not reply. I huffed and stared out the window. The cops flicked on their lights as we reached the highway, sirens wailing.

"The money is a thank you for risking your lives for the United States of America." Man two replied, his tone suggesting that there was no argument to this.

We were silent for the rest of the drive.

When we finally stopped we were let out in front of a plain looking building and quickly ushered inside. I was the slowest, still adjusting to the crutches and cast. It made me irritable. Add to that the fact that our parents were going to be here... I was not looking forward to it.

We were guided to an enclosed room with several chairs surrounding an oval table. My parents were sitting on one side, beside Thalia's mom. My mom took one look at us and stood, rushing across the room she stopped when she saw the crutches and cast. Carefully she wrapped one of her arms around me, grabbing Elaine with the spare and hugging us tightly. My mother was a brunette with blue eyes. She had a roll of fat around her stomach. I shared a lot of her features, the soft face, freckles, and the inability to tan. Elaine took more after our father with the harsher features, dark hair, equally dark eyes, and freckle-free skin.

"I was so scared." Our mother whispered and I realized that she was crying. My heart sunk somewhere into my stomach, causing that organ to froth with bile. I felt sick. I had worried my mom. I had scared my mom. Then she stepped back and I could see the anger kicking in. Now that she knew that we were alive and fairly well she was going to kill us. I noticed the look on my dad's face and winced. He was angry too. Thalia's mother looked about as impressed. Thalia's mom was thin and angular, with short brown hair and pale brown eyes. She was a fairly quiet woman, at least, compared to my own boisterous parents. Thalia's father wasn't here, not that was a surprise. He and Thalia's mother had divorced and while he occasionally would show up, he had little involvement in Thalia's life anymore.

"I want a full explanation. Now." I winced at my mother's tone. Man one and man two took seats. Man one gestured at the table.

"I'd like for you all to take a seat and I will explain everything." He stated. Slowly our parents moved to take their spots once again. Nervously Thalia, Elaine, and I did the same.

"My name is Agent Hall, this is Agent Bell." Man one, Agent Hall stated.

"For a long time, our government has been aware that we are not alone in this universe." He stated. Our parents jerked in shock. My mother looked like she was about to demand he cut to the chase. My dad looked like his birthday had come early and Thalia's mother didn't seem to know what this had to do with her daughter.

"Our first clue was when we found a gigantic cube with strange runes and patterns upon it. It let off a strange energy and measured twenty stories tall. To keep this discovery hidden president Hoover built the Hoover dam around it. Years later the next discovery was found by a man named Arthur Caron found the next clue." My mother's eyes grew wide.

"Your great-grandfather." She gasped, looking at my father who just stared at her.

"He found this." Agent Bell stated, passing a picture of Megatron down the table.

"We called it The Ice Man or NBE."

"NBE?" My dad asked.

"Non-Biological Extraterrestrial," Elaine stated. I jumped and stared at her. Her words caught the attention of all the adults in the room.

"How does this involve our daughters?" My mom asked, Elaine's voice reminding her as to why she had come here in the first place.

I listened in silence as Agents Hall and Bell explained it all the cybertronians coming down to earth, and the entire incident involving the escape of Megatron and the battle. The worse part of the entire story came to a close tie between the horror and anger when our parents discovered we had lied to them and the revelation that the government had been spying on our family since Arthur Caron died in a mental institution (which was an impressive feat since my grandfather had five older sisters). For that to have been allowed that meant that the Canadian and American Governments had been working together when it came to the 'NBEs'.

When the agents were finished there was dead silence. I was staring at my hands which were fiddling with my sweater nervous for the repercussions of this conversation.

"So we sign this paperwork and our daughters get money from the government. The only rule is we can't speak about this." My dad summarized, his black eyes glittering. Agent Hall nodded.

"You're essentially asking me to agree to keep what is, essentially, a government conspiracy, secret." I could see that the agents were not liking the tone of voice my dad was taking. My dad was an astronomer, he had a strong and curious mind and finding life elsewhere in the universe was not something he approved keeping a secret.

"So if these 'evil' aliens are after us before I sign anything I want to know what protection my family will be given." He stated, leaning forward and looking at the contract in front of him.

"That has already been done. Your family has been given an Autobot to protect you, as well as continued surveillance-"

"The 'Autobot' is Bumblebee, he's the car that Uncle Bobby bought. And that wasn't the government who decided to let him come, that was Optimus Prime and Bumblebee himself." Elaine interjected. Our dad nodded and turned back to the agents.

"So besides constant government surveillance what can you offer us?" He challenged. I allowed a cautious smile. Seeing my dad throw the government agents for a loop was amazing. Apparently though they had one up on us.

"We'll pay off your family debts. That's our final offer." I gasped. My parents had earned a lot of debts and while they had managed to pay off most of them by now they were still substantial.

"That goes for you too Mrs. Cook." Hall added, smirking. He knew that he had won.

"What are the chances that these Decepticons will come after us." My father asked.

"Very minimal I assure you."

"Then take off the government surveillance." My mother jerked in shock and looked at him. Thalia's mother too looked caught off guard.

"I don't want my family watched anymore." My father explained, glancing at my mom, "We don't need it." Dead silence. My mom narrowed her eyes at my dad then pulled him out of the chair. The two began to talk, growing quite heated on both parts. I really didn't want to be here right now.

Nearly two hours later everything had been decided and we were heading home. Thalia to go to hers while Elaine and me to our own. The two families had decided upon very different situations for themselves. Thalia's mother taking the government surveillance while our family decided on very light surveillance (pretty much nothing unless a Decepticon was spotted in town). Both families agreed on keeping the money the government had offered and were now sworn to silence. There was only one other part that had been added in. Thalia, Elaine and I needed passports and special clearance codes. Optimus had requested that we could come visit whenever we wanted.

We rode in the back of our parents car, Bee driving quietly behind us. When we got home we slipped quietly into the house. I moved to head to my room when my mother's voice caught me.

"Lynn, Elaine, family meeting. Table, now." I flinched. Anything, anything other than that. I slunk to the kitchen table, Elaine after me. While I shifted and refused to meet my parent's gazes Elaine met them head on. Once we were all seated our mom took control.

"I want to know what you were thinking." She snapped, looking between the two of us, "You could have been killed! Joining some intergalactic war, do you know how worried we were when we heard you two were in Mission City? It was all over the news..." She paused before adding, "Well, not what really happened. We were told it was a terrorist attack. This is worse. And you lied to us. You intentionally deceived us and let us believe that you were doing normal teen things." She took a breath then looked at me.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" I couldn't look her in the eyes. I slowly shook my head. My chest was aching painfully.

"You couldn't even tell us the truth. I'm disappointed." Someone might as well have just shoved a hot knife into my chest and twisted. My mom getting angry was bad but disappointed... that was the worst thing for me.

"If we had asked you would have said no." Elaine pointed out, "We had to. Earth itself was literally in danger, terrorists are nothing on the Decepticons. You can't tell me you would have said yes."

"Of course, we wouldn't." Dad snapped, "You are still a child. If it was just Lynn then it wouldn't have been so bad-"

"Why?"

"Because Lynn is almost an adult." Our father replied, "She's old enough to make choices like this. You're fifteen. You should be worried about school, making friends-" Elaine sent our father a scathing look. Then stood up.

"We're not done with this conversation young lady, sit down."

"Well, I am done with it!" Elaine screamed, her short fuse gone as she exploded, storming down the hall and slamming the door behind her. I flinched and took off myself, slipping into my room quickly and shutting the door. There I slid down my door, curling up on the carpet and feeling the tears pour down my face. Could I do nothing right?

Thalia, Elaine and I met on the football field behind my old school.

"So what now?" Thalia asked, glancing between Elaine and me.

"What do you mean?" I asked blandly, ripping out chunks of grass and tossing them into the air.

"How are we going to help them out now?" Thalia reiterated. I paused.

"Why should we? We already fought in a fricking battle, why do we need to help them? They're aliens, and they have the entire military at their beck and call. They don't need three human teenagers." I retorted sharply. Images of the deaths from the 'terrorist' attack flashed before my eyes along with the eyes of my parents.

We're disappointed in you

This wasn't a game. This was real life, and there were plenty of chances that we could have died. If Barricade, the 'evil' police car, had decided to squish my head instead of my leg, if I had accidentally been stepped on, hit by a stray bullet, had a building fall on me. There were a million and one ways that any of us could have died there. We were lucky. That was it.

"I know but helped them before. Besides, they all risked their lives to save us, over and over again."

"I don't remember that." I snapped, "Saving our lives does not mean dragging us into a battle zone."

"We had the Allspark." Elaine challenged.

"They could have dropped us off without it." I snapped back, "No matter what way you look at it, they endangered us." Elaine stood, her face becoming cold.

"Why don't you make up your own mind for once instead of letting mom and dad think for you. You're the one who's 'almost an adult' anyway." I stared at her. Letting mom and dad think for me? I could think for myself. I was perfectly capable of thinking for myself. I glared at her.

"I am thinking for myself. I just agree with what they said. We could have been killed. Next time we might be. I'm not going to let there be a next time. Not for me" I stated, standing abruptly.

"You're a coward." I jerked, spinning to glare at Elaine. Thalia stood up, anger covering her face.

"Stop it." She barked. Neither of us listened.

"I'm a coward? Fine. At least, I'll live. I actually want to do something with my life." I snapped. Thalia stepped between us, shoving both of us to either side.

"Both of you are acting like idiots." She snarled. She turned to me.

"You are forgetting something. We're involved already. We can't step back, we've already joined this fight. You think the Decepticons are just going to ignore us? We fucking killed their leader! They're not going to forget that. We might as well get fully involved, maybe learn to protect ourselves?" She suggested before turning to Elaine.

"And Lynn is not a coward, she's scared but she did a lot in that fight even though she was. Pretty sure that is defined as 'brave'." Both Elaine and I fell silent at Thalia's words. Sighing she looked between the two of us.

"We're in this together." She pointed out, "So stop acting like we're each other's worst enemies." Elaine and I stared at each other, glaring daggers with the intent to kill. Thalia rolled her eyes.

"It takes two to tango you know. Stop blaming each other and just get over it." Shaking her head she looked between the two of us.

"Let's go and see where Bee would like to be. This place is too exposed for him to come out."


	9. Fireflies

Chapter 8

Fireflies

 _Lynn_

I had to admit the base, half-done as it was, was impressive. So far it was a large compound, one half dedicated to humans with barracks, a cafeteria, a tech room as well as areas to train and hang out. The other half was dedicated to the autobots with places to sleep, wash, train and a medbay.

We were currently in the medbay as Bumblebee had been called by Rachet to finally get his vocal processor repaired.

Bumblebee seemed irritated by Rachet's poking, prodding, and constant scanning at his voice box. Not that I blamed the yellow and black bot, it would bother me too.

The main attraction though wasn't the giant beds, the huge desk with typical and not so typical medical supplies, or the ridiculous high ceiling. It was Dispenser. The little green sparkling had been upgraded, or technically downgraded into a body five feet tall. The same height as Elaine without her heels. Rachet had banned the little guy from leaving the medbay until he was sure that his spark was not going to reject his frame. As it was Dispenser was the average four year old kid. Overexcitable, easily entertained, and constantly getting into trouble.

"Dispenser, don't touch that!" Rachet called, back still turned as the little guy reached for some sort of tool high above him on a shelf. Dispenser froze, a guilty look crossing his face.

"Rachet will you play with me?" He asked, stepping away from the shelf.

"I'm a little busy Dispenser." Rachet replied. He replied, his hands holding open the wires in Bumblebee's throat as he carefully inserted something inside.

"Don't... uh, worry Dispenser," I quickly interjected, trying to make the little guy not look like he was going to cry, "Rachet just has an important job to do." My feelings were still mixed when it came to the autobots but I couldn't upset a child, no matter what species. Rachet muttered something about femmes.

"What's a femme?" Thalia asked, clearing having picked up on the words.

"You are, technically, it is the closest translation to our word for female."

"Huh." I muttered, interested despite of myself, "So what's your word for male?"

"Mech." Rachet replied, carefully twisting something. Bumblebee sat perfectly still, blue eyes carefully focused on Rachet. He suddenly jerked.

"Frag!" He snarled as something skittered out of Bumblebee's neck.

"I got it." Elaine cried, grabbing the item before it could roll to the ground and handing it back to Rachet. Rachet gave her a funny look.

"Thank you." He muttered before turning back and carefully inserting the object into Bumblebee's throat.

"Try now." He stated. Bumblebee nodded.

"Can you... hear me?" His voice was full of static but he now had his own distinctive voice. It was just hard to make out.

"Yes. We're almost there." And with that he was once again deep in Bumblebee's throat.

Thalia and I worked together to distract Dispenser with stories, and the occasional quiet game. I couldn't do any activity that required a lot of running because of my leg, and Thalia was not comfortable with kids. Eventually, Rachet finished.

"Done." He stated stepping back. Catching us breathing heavily he turned all the way around.

"Alright Dispenser, time for your nap." He carefully caught the little green mech in his hands and walked off to wherever Dispenser slept in here. As the two of them vanished I distinctly heard the sound of Dispenser complaining that he wasn't tired.

"Well, what do you think?" Bee asked, stepping off the gigantic 'bed'.

"You sound amazing Bee." Elaine praised, her face aglow. Bumblebee's voice was youthful, he sounded just a little older then myself.

"Go easy though," Elaine warned, "its only a temporary fix." I blinked.

"What do you mean?" I asked but Bee just waved a hand at her.

"I know. No screaming, shouting or strenuous activity. Rachet already told me." He smiled brightly, and carefully stepped over us.

"I'm going to find Optimus." He stated, then vanished out of the medbay.

"Well, I'm going to explore." Thalia announced before vanishing after the yellow and black mech. I stared after them for a few seconds before picking up my backpack and exiting as well.

This part of the complex was large, specially designed for the Transformers... I shivered. Every time that word came into my mind in reference to the autobots I felt the deja vu come back. Although it was becoming less every time, it was still annoying. All these things which were so similar but eluded me every time I tried to remember why.

Finding a quiet corner to sit in I pulled out my laptop and plugged in my headphones.

I found myself deeply immersed in my music. Eventually I stopped listening, allowing the music to be the background for my thoughts. What did I really think of the autobots? Sure they had saved our lives but over a hundred people had been killed and that easily could have been us. They were kind and well meaning but did that excuse them from what happened?

I didn't want to be involved in a war. I didn't want to die. I wanted a normal life.

Something waved in front of my eyes. I jumped. A dark hand. Blinking I looked up from the screen. A man I had never seen before was standing there, black eyes warm. He was dark with cornrows and a silver suit. He pointed at his head and I pulled my headphones off.

"Are you alright Lynn?" I stared at him openly, I knew that voice.

"Jazz? Is this..." I trailed off, my eyes running over his 'body', his holographic body.

"My hologram, _I_ can't exactly fit into this corner." He waved at the area that I had hidden myself in. My face turned fire-engine red, embarrassment running through my body. He chuckled, not seeming to mind at all. He just grinned at my red face, flopping down beside me and peering over my shoulder.

"What is that?"

"Itunes. It's a music app." I replied, reaching for my headphones. His face lit up like the fourth of July.

"Can I hear?" I stared at him in surprise before nodding mutely and pulling my headphones out. I skipped forward, not wanting to listen to the beginning of the same song over again.

The electronic music began to play and I couldn't help but notice the irony. It was the same piece I had been playing before this adventure/nightmare began.

"What is this song called?" He asked as the tune finished.

"Fireflies, by Owl City. Its an electronic music 'group' although mostly its all done by one guy." I admitted, leaning back. He hummed thoughtfully.

"It reminds me of the music we had back in cybertron." He admitted. I quickly selected the 'artist' option and chose to play all of Owl City's music. We listened for a while, just quietly sitting side by side.

Finally after three Owl City songs were done Jazz turned to face me. I clicked the music off, glancing at him in curiosity.

"Lynn, I want you to be honest with me. Do you want to continue spending time here?" I looked up at him in confusion. What was he going on about?

"What do you mean?" I asked, looking back to my laptop for a second before snapping it closed.

"I understand that you're not exactly our biggest fan, Bumblebee mentioned that you are not very comfortable around him anymore. If you don't want to spend time here you don't have to. You are old enough-"

"Why does everyone say that!" I cried, turning to Jazz in frustration, "Its always 'you're old enough to make your own choices' or 'you're an adult you should know better' what does my age have to do with anything?" Jazz chuckled at my words, not seeming to care about my frustration.

"I suppose that it does get overwhelming. I remember when I was a mechling and told that it was about time I started acting like a fully-grown mech. It wasn't easy, I didn't feel like a full-grown mech. Even if I was in that frame at the time," He smiled knowingly, "I suppose its similar to you. You don't feel like an adult but everyone wants you to act like one?"

I nodded miserably at his words. Jazz leaned back and looked up to the ceiling.

"Can't say that I have the answers, its all your choice, to be honest I didn't feel like an adult until I joined the war. Once you take a life you're an adult. Hopefully, you and your sisters won't ever have to grow up that way."

I tucked my legs in tighter to me, growing quiet. I had always been immature for my age and Elaine had always been mature. It was funny, Elaine already looked at herself like an adult and here I was, the older sister and I didn't feel any older than Elaine was physically.

"Lynn," I looked up at Jazz's voice. He was looking at me again, his dark eyes gleaming with a touch of blue, "I suppose it is selfish of us, but there is a reason that we want to keep in contact with you and your sisters. You give us a reason to keep fighting." A small, sad expression twisted his face as he kept speaking.

"Our home is gone and we can't ever bring it back. We have all lost family and friends, some of us have been separated from our mates so long that we can barely remember what their faces look like. Sometimes I find myself wondering what the point would be after we win this war, how much is there to live for? Our species is doomed to extinction now that the Allspark is destroyed. Then I think of you three, our people may go extinct but we have something to fight for in this world now," He chuckled lightly but it sounded hollow. I stayed quiet. What was I supposed to say? I couldn't even pretend to understand what the autobots were going through. They had lost almost everything and yet they were still willing to fight for a species not their own.

"Why us?" The words escaped my throat of their own volition, "why would we be the ones to give you a reason to keep fighting?" Jazz shook his head.

"Its not important, Lynn. Don't worry about it," he stood, head turning slightly before he looked back at me.

"I'm sorry, Optimus is calling me. I'll see you later, Lynn," His holoform vanished before my eyes. I stared after him before sighing and tucking my laptop back in my backpack.

Jazz flickered across my mind and of its own accord. He had been a lot nicer than I had expected. No, that wasn't the word... he had been understanding. I carefully manoeuvred myself from the spot I had been hiding in. Enough of the pity-party Lynn, I told myself sharply, get over it. You got exactly what you asked for, there is no reason for you to be complaining.

I crutched out of the huge room I had been hiding in and into the human side of the compound. I was hungry and apparently the cafeteria had been one of the first things completed.

In the end I had to ask for directions several times before I finally made it in. I wasn't all that surprised to see Thalia and Elaine sitting at one table, excitedly chatting with a large crowd of people. I recognized a few of them, some were the soldiers who had been fighting with us. Others were strangers. Two people in particular though, I had never seen before but the second I laid eyes on them a wave of deja vu hit me. The first was a blond girl who was excitedly chatting with Elaine, most likely about something involving technology. The other person was a man about the same age as the blond, with dark skin and hair. He was a little on the chubby side, I noticed as I navigated my way to the table where they were all sitting.

"Um, can I join you guys?" I asked, glancing about the very full table.

"Well that's my cue to get back to work," one woman said, with a warm smile she stood, leaving a spot right next to Thalia. As she passed me she patted one of my shoulders before vanishing out of the doors. Thalia looked up and clambered out of her seat.

"What do you want?" She asked, glancing towards the kitchens.

"I can get my-"

"You're in crutches, I'm not letting you get your own food in here until you can walk properly. I was nearly run over," She joked lightly but there was a serious tone behind her voice. I couldn't help but smile at my friend.

"Maybe a burger or something? Thanks." I said as I took the seat that had been vacated for me. She nodded and vanished into the busy cafeteria. The blond who my sister had been chatting with stopped a moment to look at me.

"You must me Lynn," She said with what sounded to me like a British accent, "My name's Maggie, and this," she gestured to the African-American young man beside her, "is my friend and assistant Glen. We've been hired to help keep the autobot's a secret. Online, that is,"

"A pleasure," I replied, reaching out and shaking her hand. I glanced over at her friend but decided to not shake his hand as he was currently enjoying his meal with a great deal of gusto. I knew that when I was eating I didn't exactly like others bothering me.

Thalia returned with my food and we quickly began chatting. It was fun to get to know all these people. Most of the soldiers were from America or Canada, but Maggie had been born in Australia before moving to the US when she was thirteen.

"Do you guys really have spiders that large?" I asked, shuddering. Spiders were the evilest of creepy-crawlies in my opinion.

"Yes, but they weren't all that common where I lived," she conceded while Glen looked distinctly uncomfortable with the topic at hand.

"Can we talk about something else?" Elaine asked, scratching at her arms. Just like me my little sister had a fear of spiders and talking about the species tended to make her uncomfortable.

"I am curious about how you got involved in all of this," Maggie admitted. Thalia, Elaine and I exchanged glances.

"Well, it started when our uncle got us a car for teaching Elaine and I how to drive..."


End file.
